Intelligent Insults
by Cohen101
Summary: Elphaba, Fiyero and Glinda are finding out that getting home to Shiz is proving to be more difficult then anyone expected- Especially since the one person who might just be able to help them hasn't ever heard of Oz...
1. Intelligent Insults

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wicked, and this is the only time I'm saying it. Author notes will be at the end of the stories from here on in. **

**Now that all the mumbo-jumbo has been nicely taken care of (or, if you're like me and just skipped down to the story) enjoy:**

_Chapter 1_

_Intelligent Insults_

"Stop squirming you infuriating foreign brat or I'll strangle you with your hair!"

"I live here you extraterrestrial lunatic! You're the foreign one! Get off me!" I demanded, trying to buck off the person on top of me, but to no avail. She was really starting to get on my nerves. I mean really, what kind of person just tackled someone out of the blue?

"What's a extra terestical?"

Despite myself I stifled a laugh at the blonde's interpretation of the word. Apparently I wasn't the only one who found the humor as I heard the boy start to laugh- it turned quickly into a cough however, and caused the girl on top of me to snap out an exasperated,

"Oh grow _up_, Fiyero. Glin," she continued with what sounded like a practiced patience, "It's not an extra terestical, its extraterrestrial. It means this girl believes that I am an alien." The blonde one 'ohhh'ed thoughtfully, obviously reflecting on this bit of new knowledge.

"You are an alien! You're _green_!" The image of a big-headed, two-eyed Scary Movie type of alien in green popped into my head. I started laughing. The green girl took it the wrong way,

"Let me assure you I'm well aware of my skin color. Yes, I've been like this my entire life; I'm in possession of eyes that are connected to my brain so I find I can interpret such things quite easily."

There was silence for a moment and the blonde one asked, "What's an alien?"

"They're green freaks from outer space with long lanky fingers and big heads," I answered. The girl on me smacked me across the back of the head and from my position on the ground I could see the boy from the corner of my eye contemplating what I had just said.

"I do not have a big head!" she hissed,

"But you are green and-"

"Master Fiyero, I dare you to finish that sentence," the green one challenged venomously. I had no doubt that she would make good on the consequences if he continued. Even I knew what she was implying and I didn't know her name.

Fiyero wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Where are we?" the green girl demanded.

I looked up at 'Glin' but 'Glin' was looking at Fiyero, who was looking down at me expectantly.

"Well?" The growl came from above.

Oh.

She was asking _me._

Like hell I was going to tell her.

"A far way from home," I growled back. I gave a half-hearted pull with the hand pinned behind me but the girl stubbornly remained seating on my back. "Get off me," I demanded once more, wondering how on earth I'd gotten myself into this predicament.

"Make me,"

"I," I grunted with the effort of rolling over, "Will!" I finished, working my wrist free of her vice-like grip and landing on my back. I tried to push her off me with my hands but she dodged them,

"That the best you got?"

Oh. She was asking for it.

"Just getting used to the_ sight_," I said meanly, lurching forward and tackling her to the ground.

"Clever little girl," she hissed, clawing at my shirt as we both fought against each other for the upper hand, "Targeting my skin to tease. Haven't heard that before!"

"Freakishly strong brute," I muttered under my breath, catching the heavy sarcasm that came with her comment. I missed her face and scratched her arm but her swipe hit the target, stinging the skin right under my left eye.

"Whiny urchin," she snarled back, her head audibly hitting the ground as I shoved her down. She was up a second later, kicking out at me with her feet.

"Brainless hermaphrodite," I snarled, hitting her hard… somewhere.

I felt her close her teeth around my forearm and heard the words, "Ignoramus hag,"

"Troglodyte animal!"

The second the word 'animal' left my mouth we both stopped where we were, breathing hard, glaring at each other with the utmost loathing. Both our chests were raising up and down at an alarming rate, our faces beet red- well, mine I assumed was; hers was more of a darker, rainforest tree flush.

Her friends were staring at us- if the blonde's comment from before was any indication we'd most likely transcended their limited vocabulary by the insult 'brute'. I barely knew what we had been calling each other. I wondered if I'd used the words properly. I realized that she was straddling my hips with her legs, both of our hands caught in one of the others.

Well this was awkward.

"Don't insult Animals!" she suddenly yelled as if remembering why she'd stopped in the first place.

"Well then don't call me an ignorant hag!"

The girl scoffed, "I'll say whatever I want after you call me a she-male!"

I shook my head. She was unbelievable. Really. "You started that one, sister," I said, "and I fight fire with fire."

We stared at each other for a couple more seconds. I was secretly impressed she knew what the term hermaphrodite meant. I think she was secretly impressed I knew what her insults had meant as well.

"What's your name?' I asked suddenly. Who were these people? And why did they look so… odd? The way they dressed made them look straight out of a Disney classic, or a really serious upscale Halloween party. But Halloween wasn't in more then four months.

"What's your name?" she demanded back.

"I asked you first!"

"There are three of us and one of you," she countered.

I studied her for a second, but she seemed to be just as stubborn as I was. "Get off me," I grumbled, pushing her back and crawling out from under her when she didn't stop me. "Crazy wacko," I muttered, gently touching the place under my eye where she had scratched me. A little bit of blood was on my fingers when I removed them from the scratch, but not enough to warrant much concern

"What's your name?" she asked again, her eyes narrowing with each passing moment.

"Wouldn't you like to know," I sneered. I knew it was immature, but I didn't care. She was the one who'd jumped on my back.

"Elphaba-"

Elphaba groaned, "Fiyero," at the same time I shouted out triumphantly,

"Ah-ha!"

The three of them looked at my extended hand and finger. Unsure of what I was pointing at, I lowered it. "So, Elphaba," I said smugly. I saw her face flush and I smiled to myself, "How is it that you don't know where you are?"

"I know where I am!" she protested but when 'Glin' squealed in delight and demanded to know, her bluff fell through.

"So you don't know where we are?" 'Glin' asked, more confused then disappointed. Even though she looked to be around my age, I was beginning to seriously doubt her intelligence.

"Elphie," Fiyero began again, looking between her and me, "Why don't we just introduce ourselves and start over? Obviously she's not going to harm us."

My hand went up to the cut on my face as Elphaba's went to her arm, where I had scratched her. We glared at each other some more.

It was the blonde that finally had enough, and with a huff she marched over to Elphaba and pulled her to her feet muttering something under her breath about frocks, dirt and rash behavior.

I remained sitting on the ground.

"This is Miss Elphaba the Thropp Third Descending from Nest Hardings. I'm Miss Glinda of the Arduennas of the Upland and this is Master Fiyero, Prince of the Arjiki tribe of the Vinkus. And you are?"

Elphaba was looking at Glinda like the girl had just sold her virtue for a half-dead donkey; Glinda and Fiyero were looking at me expectantly with pleasant expressions. I was finding them a lot cooler than Elphaba.

"Uh… I'm, uh, Shandra,… Domine..." they continued their staring. What more did they want? Oh, right. The whole 'from' thing. "From," I continued gracelessly, "Uh, the outskirts of- of Regina?"

It seemed to satisfy Glinda as she came over and extended a hand towards me, helping me to my feet. "Pleasure to meet you Miss Shandra," she said kindly, smiling. I could instantly see why she was the one wearing the beautiful pale blue ball gown and not Elphaba, who I could hear growling from ten feet away. Or maybe it was my imagination making noises again.

Glinda was still in front of me so I stuttered out, "You, too, uh, Miss Glinda?" hoping I didn't offend her by breaking some unknown taboo.

"Miss Shandra," Fiyero, who, I just noticed, had some odd pattern of blue diamonds covering his dark skin, asked, "Would you be so kind as to enlighten us of our whereabouts?"

"You can call me Shandra," I said, a little freaked out about the whole 'Miss' and 'Master' thing. What kind of abnormally polite culture did they come from? "And you're right outside of the city of Regina," I answered, smiling at Elphaba. She looked like she was about ready to connect my head with tree stump.

"And, where might that be?" Fiyero asked.

"In Saskatchewan,"

Fiyero began to look slightly panicked.

"Canada?" I tried.

This pulled Elphaba out of her sulk.

"North America?" You couldn't go much broader then that. Unless-

"Earth?"

Glinda looked to Elphaba, and, finding her as panicked as Fiyero, turned to me, "What on Oz are you talking about?"

"Oz?" I asked, completely lost.

"Elphie," Fiyero asked, his voice reaching a rather high octave, "Do you have any idea where she's talking about?"

"No, though I'm not surprised you don't," she snap. I found the second part rather unnecessary but didn't say anything as Glinda beat me to it,

"Elphaba, there's no need to get angry with Fiyero. He did nothing to get us into this mess. If anything, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, like us."

"And also the reason you failed your last geography test," I heard her mutter under her breath, although no one else seemed to. They were probably just ignoring her, so I did too,

"How do you not know what Earth is?"

"Is it past the Vinkus?" Glinda asked, trying to be helpful.

"If it is, it must be really far away," Fiyero said, "I haven't heard of it."

"Neither have I?" I provide helpfully. Or, I hoped it was helpful.

"Oh, Oz," Glinda said, placing her head delicately in her hands. Elphaba rolled her eyes and before I got a chance to ask about Oz again, Fiyero began listing off strange places I'd never heard of,

"Gillikin?"

I shook my head.

"Quadling Country?"

I shook it again.

"Munchkinland?"

And again.

"Fliaan?"

Fourth time.

"Ev?" shake "Quox?" shake "Oz?"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" I demanded finally.

"Oz is the land where we live," Elphaba said softly from where she had been standing- I'd nearly forgotten she was there.

And I had never heard of it. "Are you sure you aren't thinking about Mars?" I asked.

They all stared at me.

"What?" I shrugged, "They sound the same." Sort of.

"I think the three of us are capable of remembering where we've lived for the past 19 years, and what it's been called during that time and the hundreds of years before it. If we're not in Oz, then how do we return there?" Elphaba asked. She was genuinely asking. For my help. And from what I'd learned about her so far, that wasn't something she did readily.

Unfortunately, I had no idea how to answer. So, feeling her disappointment for the first time since I meet her, I shook my head, "I really don't know. I'm sorry." And I was.

"Oh, Elphie, what are we going to do?" Glinda asked, looking at her friend tearfully. With tears. No kidding, this girl actually had real tears that were being kept in place only by the polarity of the water molecules. I remember reading something about it in class.

There was a couple of awkward seconds where no one spoke. Finally I broke it, "So, uh, do you want to crash at my house for the night?"

It surprised me when I said it, but I reasoned that I couldn't leave them outside alone. Elphaba might have coped well, but I took an instant liking to Fiyero and the thought of Glinda outside made _me_ want to cry. There were some people who just weren't meant to be the outdoorsy type.

"Crash? I don't understand," Elphaba said, her dark eyes flashing dangerously. I was hoping the emotion there was suspicion.

"Right. You're whole… formal thing. Taking things at face value." I could tell the comment irritated Elphaba and I smiled at the thought. I tried again, "Would you like to spend the night at my home?"

While Fiyero nodded his head and Glinda's tears magically disappeared within seconds, Elphaba was much more cautious. "Why?" she asked. "Why help us?"

It struck me as odd that she was more suspicious of me then I was of her friends and her. I felt indignation flare up inside me, "What, I'm supposed to leave you out here all alone? Helpless to nature?" As if on cue, the ominous roll of thunder filled our ears, rumbling the ground beneath us slightly.

"Elphie, please?" Glinda begged, hanging off Elphaba's arm like a small child wanting a cupcake. Elphaba looked over to Fiyero, who shrugged,

"What's the harm? Three to one, right?"

His comment didn't bode well for me and I hoped that Elphaba wouldn't strike me down in the middle of the night while I slept. It would have been too horror-movie clichéd.

She hesitated, but it seemed that the second roll of thunder and the sudden wind that caused the trees to brush up against each other was enough to persuade her, "Alright. But tomorrow morning we're figuring out a way home."

A/N:**Elements are mostly bookverse, but the characters are a little more musicalverse, just because I like 'em that way and find it extremely hard to get bookverse language down pat. They're Shiz-age, and more information on that will be coming in the next couple chapters. **

**It'll be written in altering first-person, something I'm trying for the first time. Feedback would be appreciated as I have no idea of the mechanics of FP. **


	2. A Good Night

_1.2 A Good Night_

"Oh, let it be Fae," Fiyero whispered tiredly and Elphaba looked up sharply from her place on the window bench,

"What did you just call me?" she hissed. "Fiyero?" she added softly, after realizing the amount of hissing she'd been doing lately. That and growling seemed to be her choice of infliction.

"Fae," Fiyero answered nervously, "Do you like it?"

Elphaba's shrugged as her eyes wandered around the room. They fell on Glinda, whose peaceful sleeping form dominated the large and, she had to admit begrudgingly, comfortable looking bed. Fiyero got up from the floor, where he'd taken up residence, despite Shandra's insistence that there was a bed for him as well.

"Why don't you just go to sleep?" he asked, sitting down beside her. She scooted away from him, leaning back against the window and unfolding her legs from underneath her. Finishing the sentence she'd been reading by moonlight, she closed her book, careful to keep her finger inside of it as a bookmark. "Fae?" Fiyero prompted and Elphaba sighed,

"I'm not like Glinda," she said, looking over once again at the now gently snoring body, "I can't just remain ignorant of our predicament. And apparently, neither can you," it wasn't a question, but Fiyero treated it as one,

"It doesn't seem too bad."

Elphaba stared at him.

"Fine, it is," he admitted. He stood up, pulling her along with him, taking the book away gently, "But the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner it'll be morning, right?"

She didn't say anything, but allowed herself to be pulled over to the bed by Fiyero, who moved the covers aside, unearthing one of Glinda's feet. Elphaba eyed it with distain; "Any chance we could change the current arrangements?" she asked and Fiyero shook his head saying,

"I don't believe that would be very appropriate Elphie," while more or less forcing her to lie down.

Shivering from the cold of the mattress, Elphaba smiled as Fiyero placed the sheets over her, setting the book on the table near the bed. "Thank you, dear Fiyero," she said quietly turning away from Glinda, who seemed to subconsciously sense her presence and had shifted her head towards the new inhabitant.

Fiyero lie down on the floor, folding his hands across his chest thoughtfully. Silence filled the room.

…

"Fae?"

It was so quiet that Elphaba was almost sure she'd imagined it. "Fiyero?" she whispered quietly, turning to face him and reclaiming her pillow from Glinda for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. "Are you awake?"

There was a pause as she saw him turn towards the bed, resting his head on his arm, "Only if you are."

His comment caused her to smile. It eased her to know that she wasn't the only one too preoccupied to sleep. Glinda huddled into her back and she was suddenly envious of her best friend's ignorance of the gravity of their problem. Her smile slowly disappeared, replaced with a much darker look, "Where are your thoughts, Fiyero?"

"Everywhere. How did we come to be here Fae?" he asked her, looking to her for an answer- answers she always seemed to have.

"I…" she let the syllable falter. She had a feeling that she had something to do with their sudden… movement, but she wasn't sure what it was. It still didn't make sense to her, even after thinking it over for so long. One minute Glinda and she were arriving back at Shiz from their meeting with the… that horrible oppressor. Glinda spotted Fiyero across the street and called out to him- he inquired as to how their trip had gone… and the next moment, they were stumbling through the underbrush of this very unfamiliar territory.

The thought of the supposedly 'Wonderful' Wizard made her blood boil; the flippant way he had dealt with Glinda and her. If she could only get back for the sole reason of standing up to the Wizard, to prove to everyone what a terrible person he was and stop the Animal bans, she would be happy.

The uncomfortable sting of Dr. Dillamond's death resurfaced in her chest and she felt her hands clench into tight fists. If only-

"Fae?"

The stress he put on her name pulled Elphaba away from her thoughts, "Yes?"

"How are we going to get back to Oz?"

As hard as it was admitting to herself that she had no idea, actually saying 'I don't know' wasn't something she was eager to do. She settled on, "We'll discuss it in the morning, Fiyero."

"Are you all right?" he asked and Elphaba nodded, scooting a little as Glinda even more effectively took up the majority of the bed. She was now perched over the edge, relying on the blanket tucked securely underneath her to keep her in the precarious position. Now that she was no longer physically alright, she decided to ignore the question. It would make her feel worse knowingly lying to Fiyero.

She closed her eyes and determinedly pushed aside all thoughts of the Wizard.

When Fiyero didn't get an answer to his question he sighed softly, looking down at the base of the bed where it didn't strain his eyes so much to look. Although there was a good amount of clearance from the floor to the frame of the bed, the soft continuous line of hardwood was broken by what looked like a book.

"Elphie?" he asked, making sure that she was still awake. His eyes remained trained on the sizable object.

"Yes…" she sounded half asleep and he didn't have the heart to take that away from her for something that would be there in the morning.

He turned away from the bed, closing his eyes as well, "Good night, Elphie."

Elphaba smiled lazily, feeling herself drift off. The last thing she remembered was saying, "G'night…"

A/N: I know there are at least two of you who are reading it. Tell me if you want other chapters.


	3. Oblique Triangles

_1.3 Oblique Triangles_

Elphaba woke up a split second before she crashed to the floor.

I snapped my eyes open from the loud noise, surprised to see familiar brown ones level with my own. Elphaba was lying both on her back and side at the same time, a twisted position I was happy I wasn't occupying. She stared back at me, looking as shocked as I imagined I looked at the moment.

"Good morning?" I said, hoping an explanation would come quickly. Glinda's head appeared over the edge of the bed, pale and confused, and I felt myself beginning to smile, putting together the pieces.

"Elphie?" she asked, sounding very unsure of herself. More than usual, in any case.

"Here," I said quietly, trying not to allow my laughter to be heard as Elphaba attempted to remove her body from the tangled mess of white sheets, "Let me."

Elphaba simply growled as I sat up and pulled myself over closer to her, only stopping her struggle when I took the sheets firmly in my hands. I was hoping she'd be in a better mood then the previous day, but so far it wasn't starting off too greatly.

It seemed that Glinda had finally managed to knock Elphaba off the bed, and she was the only one who didn't know it.

"Elphie?" she asked again, deeply confused, "Why are you on the floor?"

"Because the floor doesn't push me off of it," she mumbled darkly, loud enough for me to hear it, but quiet enough for Glinda to miss it.

Already bored with trying to justify Elphaba's odd placement, Glinda disappeared once again from view.

"Are you alright?" I asked as I pulled the white sheet away from Elphaba's body. The last segment of white sheet off of her shoulder and it occurred to me that her green skin seemed to go surprisingly well with the light color.

"Oh, stop smiling," she snapped, misinterpreting my expression and proving that she was in fact, uninjured. And I tried to. I really did. "Fiyero…" she warned, and I bit my lip, looking down. When I looked back again, it was into her eyes, hoping to tell her that I wasn't teasing her.

Not that a small girl like Glinda muscling _her_ out of a bed wasn't slightly amusing. We held each others gazes for a few moments in a comfortable silence. I was about to tell her that thing about the colors but I felt Glinda behind me. Elphaba looked past me and I turned around, seeing that she was already dressed.

She was either quite skilled at putting on clothing or Elphaba and me had been looking at each other for longer then I thought. It could have very well been either.

"Elphie," she said. It sounded like she was scolding a small child, "Why on Oz are you still on the floor? Get up or you'll get that frock dirty."

For a second it looked like Elphaba was going to tackle Glinda to the floor and I got ready to intercept her. Better me then defenseless Glinda, who would probably break down at the thought of being forced to wear a dirty dress.

Now that I thought about it, how had she managed to keep her dress so clean during our short trek in the trees?

"The frock is the last thing I'm worried about Glinda," Elphaba finally said. I think Glinda may have been the only one Elphaba would contain herself for, but just in case I got up and reached down to help Elphaba to her feet. Just in case.

Her soft hand let go of mine and the three of us stood, together creating a small triangle.

I think it might have been an oblique triangle. I could've been wrong though. And apparently I was because once I voiced my thoughts, Elphaba looked at me for a second, trying to gauge if I was being serious, then shook her head, ashamed.

"Now what do we do?" Glinda asked, looking between Elphaba and me.

Elphaba rolled her eyes and turned to make the bed as I felt a small laugh escape my lips, turning away from Glinda as well, bending down to fold the blanket I'd used for the night.

Glinda stayed where she was, looking between Elphaba and me.

"What?"

**A/N: Apparently subtlety isn't one of my strengths. Ah well, shucks. Tell me what you think. If you want. Or not. I'm tired.**


	4. Breakfast Mannerisms

_1.4 Breakfast Mannerisms_

There was a knock on the door and all three of them looked towards it in unison.

"How long have we been awake?" Elphaba asked finally, after a quick head-scan (it wouldn't have been much of a 'count') confirmed that all three of them were present and accounted for.

Fiyero shrugged, "Do you mean, 'how long have we been up' or, 'how long ago was it you made the sound a carriage makes going over train tracks at extreme speeds'?"

She stared at him.

"What?" he asked uncomfortably, but there was another knock on the door.

"Someone should go answer it," Glinda said smiling breezily.

Elphaba rolled her eyes, "Thanks Glin. We'll work on that."

There was another knock and both Elphaba and Glinda looked at Fiyero expectantly.

"What?" he asked again.

"I'm not going to do it," Glinda said, sitting down defiantly on the bed. Elphaba smiled at her childish gesture,

"You're closer than I am, dear Fiyero."

Outnumbered, but not beneath pretending he was doing it to be thoughtful of the two girls, Fiyero went to answer the door.

The door opened a little and I saw Fiyero's puzzled face. Once he saw me, realization flickered across his face and he opened it even more, revealing the two girls inside. We stared at each other and my eyes were involuntarily drawn to a pattern of blue diamonds that seemed to start on his cheek and continue down beneath his shirt.

"Hey," he said, tearing my attention away from the odd markings; I made myself a note to ask him about them later. Glinda was on the bed and Elphaba was standing beside her, arms crossed.

"I heard a crash…" I said, peering around Fiyero and trying to see if anything inside was broken, "Is everyone all right?"

Fiyero stared at me for another second before stepping away from the door and beginning to laugh. Elphaba glared at him,

"Yes, we're fine," she said steely.

Not really understanding what was going on, but happy that nothing was awry, I put a hand on the doorframe, "Well, I'm making breakfast downstairs, if you want to come down and eat."

Glinda jumped up from the bed, and Elphaba started at her enthusiasm, "We haven't eaten in a very long time; breakfast would be heavenly!"

"Anything specific you'd like to eat?" I asked, wondering if they had any allergies. Breakfast was breakfast wherever you went, right?

"Whatever you prepare will be good enough for us," Fiyero said pleasantly and I nodded, turning around to get a head start down the stairs, hoping the toast hadn't burned.

It was only a couple seconds before the trio entered the kitchen and I was in the middle of piling toast onto the plate. The table was already set and I was proud that I'd been able to express at least some semblance of control over the house. Glinda was leading the way, followed by Fiyero and a not too happy Elphaba.

"You guys can sit down and help yourselves, I'll be right over," I encouraged them and while Fiyero and Glinda obliged, pulling out the chairs and sitting down, Elphaba glowered at me,

"Guys?"

"Oh, quite the formality and sit down," I grumbled as Glinda said brightly,

"Come on Elphie, sit by me!"

Perhaps hoping that the night of sleep and the lack of attempted attacks against them on my behalf would shake Elphaba of her animosity towards me was too optimistic.

"I hope you slept well," I said, and Elphaba scowled. Glinda smiled widely, and I could swear she was almost glowing,

"Yes, we had a very pleasant night. And the room was simply beautiful. This house really is a wonderful piece of architecture- so very different than back home,"

"So, where do you all live again?" I said, hoping that the whole 'Oz' thing had just been a temporary state of mind from the trauma of whatever happened to them. I set down the toast and took a piece for myself. Fiyero barley glanced up as he reached for his own.

"As we told you last night," Elphaba said, the only one not devouring her food. Glinda was at least doing it with some sort of dignity, unlike Fiyero. "We're from Oz, and we'd really like to return there as soon as possible."

"Don't worry, I'm all for that," I assured, ripping off a piece of my toast more violently than required.

It seemed that Elphaba caught the subtle motion, "If our presence isn't welcome here, by all means just let it be known and we'll gladly leave."

"Elphie!" Glinda chastised, then instantly set out to control the potential damage, "She didn't mean that. Right? Elphie- Are you alright Fiyero?" she asked impatiently as Fiyero had begun to choke on whatever had been in his mouth. He started coughing as Elphaba glared at him; after finally regaining the ability to breathe normally he muttered his apologies for the interruption.

"Well, that's what you get when you eat like an animal," Glinda huffed. "As I was saying," she glared at Fiyero, as if daring him to interrupt once more, "We appreciate your hospitality. Elphie's just in a sour mood."

I nodded, "That's understandable. And I didn't poison the food," I added. Elphaba looked down at her plate suspiciously and took a small bite of toast. I didn't really see why she was so worried- Glinda was fine and Fiyero was already having seconds- the choking thing really had been his own fault.

"Can you tell us where we are, exactly?" Elphaba asked after a couple moments of silence and I swallowed before answering,

"I told you last night, after you jumped on me, remember? Regina."

She didn't apologize for the needless attack, simply nodding.

"How did you all get here anyway?" I asked cautiously.

"Yeah," Fiyero added and I looked to him confused, "How did your meeting with the Wonderful Wizard go?"

"It was absolutely dreadful," Glinda said, holding her hand up to her face melodramatically, "Elphie was simply horrendous! She almost got us killed!"

"Oh, don't exaggerate Glinda. And he deserved it," Elphaba said, defending herself fervently. "And you know that just as well as I. Fiyero, can you believe that he knew about Dr. Dillamond's murder and didn't seem to be at all bothered by the peculiar nature surrounding it? The flippant, patronizing way he treated Glinda and I was absolutely abominable! And what could only be described as his infantile obsession with pleasure faith- and this is the man who leads Oz? Who is willingly abolishing a very able-bodied group of citizens? Using them to strengthen his powers? Who expects people to call him, 'Your Highness'?"

"All I'm saying is that you could have been a little more contained," Glinda sniffed.

Elphaba turned to her, "I wish now that I hadn't been _so _contained! He's a vile piece of creation that has no concern for anyone but himself. And I refuse to go around saying things I don't mean for the sake of courtesy. I treated him how he treated me, and I only wish I had had the chance to treat him how he treats the Animals-"

"So," I said, interrupting Elphaba for the good of the group, "What happened right before you got here?"

Glinda seemed to physically jump at the chance to stop Elphaba from being angry with her, "Well, we came back from the Emerald City by carriage after we met the…" she glanced at Elphaba quickly, obviously not wanting to start her on another rant, "him, and then I saw Fiyero and I called him over, and he asked about how our trip went, and then…"

"There was a loud noise and we were suddenly in the woods, and not five minutes later you came and found us," Fiyero finished for her as Glinda nodded.

"In other words, there's absolutely no explanation as to why you're here now, instead of Shiz?" I condensed feeling a little helpless.

Fiyero nodded and Glinda sniffed to confirm my theory. I took my plate, as well as Glinda's, preparing to clean away the breakfast mess. But I didn't miss the look that flashed across Elphaba's face when I asked the question and she'd looked down, becoming exceedingly interested in her food.

I didn't call it to attention, but I knew I would ask her about it the next second I got.

**A/N: Just drop a review if you're still interested XD**


	5. Apples

_1.5 Apples_

"Oh, let it be Fae," Fiyero said, sitting down next to me.

I glared- I really needed to think up a nickname for him.

"Yes, listen to Fiyero and put that hideous book away Elphie."

"Only if you put down the lollipop," I shot back at her and Glinda opened her mouth from across the small garden, closing it once she realized the implications of what I'd said. She looked down at the lollipop, then at me. Then she turned around to look at some flowers, pretending she hadn't heard what I said.

Glinda had just discovered the sugar stick, and I was a little worried to see what would come once she fully ingested the sweet.

And it just so happened that neither of my so-called friends were bothering Shandra, who was curled up on the swinging bench, mimicking me almost to the tee. I couldn't resist pointing this out to Fiyero, who was in the process of putting his head in my lap, stretching out across the dark grass.

"It's because I'm trying to locate your mysterious Oz," Shandra answered without looking up from her book. Fiyero smiled up at me from underneath my book and nodded his head,

"Which is precisely why Glinda and I are trying to convince you to enjoy the outdoors for a little while. Shanny's got the reading aspect well covered. Whose book do you have? Mine?" Fiyero asked and I ignored him, wincing instead at the nickname Glinda had given our host this morning.

"Do you even know what's she's reading, Fiyero?" I asked and from his blank face I knew he had not even an inkling of its topic.

"Do you know what _you're_ reading?" he asked me as once again, the brat answered for him,

"It's the index of the atlas."

"Is you're name Fiyero?" I snapped suddenly, profoundly irritated by her for reasons I couldn't quite understand.

"As long as I have an answer, does it have to be?" she asked back, finally looking up to glare at me. I returned the look until Fiyero's hand pulled my book away from me,

"Give that back Fiyero," I demanded. Even though it was his book, he didn't seem to care much about it and I didn't feel up to the effort it would take to wrestle it away from him.

Fiyero shook his head, losing my page and flipping through the papers, "What if I wanted to read it?"

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. Although Fiyero was one of the more scholarly boys that attended Shiz, his motives were questionable at the moment. "Do you actually want to read it, or are you trying to annoy me by pretending to read it?" I asked and he smiled, his eyes glinting.

"Would it matter a great deal if I did?"

"Did what?" I asked exasperated. Honestly, he could really get on my nerves sometimes. Fiyero just grinned at me and I stood up, feeling satisfied at the sound of his head hitting the ground. He deserved it.

Except now I had nowhere to go. I wandered over to a tree and picked up an apple from the ground beneath it. It was mostly red, with a couple streaks of yellow through it, but it looked ripe and I had a sudden craving for apple. I was about to take a bite from it, when Shandra exclaimed,

"Wait!"

I turned around, wondering if she was talking to me or to Fiyero, who was now seated next to her on the swinging bench, or even to Glinda for that matter, who was sitting by the flowerbed picking the yellow dandelions and braiding them into some sort of accessory.

"What?" I asked irate.

She looked surprised at the hostility in my voice. I had to say I was a little too. After all, she hadn't done anything to justify it. Yet. "You have to wash it before you eat it," she said cautiously, handing her book over to Fiyero. My book lay forgotten beside him. So he had been trying to bother me.

"Why?"

"Because," she said getting up, "There could be pesticides on it."

I was glad Fiyero asked, "What are pesticides?" so I didn't have to.

"Pesticides kill insects," she said, taking the apple from my hand, motioning me to follow her. I did so grudgingly, only because I was curious about this whole pesticides thing.

"What does that accomplish? Other than killing helpless animals, and maybe even Animals?"

Shandra looked at me curiously, "Usually it keeps them away from the crops so they don't destroy them and we won't be left with nothing to eat for the season. Why do you keep harping on about animals?"

"Because Animals deserve the same treatment that humans get. Just because their different doesn't mean that they don't have the mental capacity to be active members of society. They do all the things human beings do- sometimes they do them even better; so why should they be oppressed just because they aren't the conventional definition of-"

"Elphie,"

"Don't call me that," I demanded, losing my train of thought. What bothered me wasn't that she'd used the term, but that I didn't mind it despite our obvious differences.

"Alright then, Miss Elphaba." Ah, sarcasm. She turned on the water and began to rinse the apple underneath it. We did that in Oz too, I resisted saying. "I think you think I'm someone I'm not. I don't understand why you're so worked up about animals, which is why I think they're much different in Oz than they are here on Earth. Animals here can't talk, and they sure as hell don't have much mental capacity."

I was slightly taken back by her outburst, "So there are no Animals here?"

"There are animals here. But they can't talk and even if they do have some feelings, it's been proven that they're nowhere nearly as developed as we are. Besides, I think my world's got enough trouble trying to attain equal rights for all the human beings, much less the animals. Now take your apple," she said, shoving the fruit into my hand, "And stop hating me without even taking the effort to get to know me."

She stalked out of the kitchen and through the doors, shutting them before returning to her place beside Fiyero. I saw Fiyero hand her back her book after a few words were exchange and she opened it, resuming her search.

Reluctantly I realized that I would have to start fresh with Shandra. I took a bit out of the apple, the familiar taste causing me to feel a little bit better.

At least not everything was different here than it was in Oz.

**A/N: I know that there's no way at least ten of you are accidentally hitting the forward button to get to the new chapter. Thing is, I'd really like to hear from you. So what about it? Also- it's hard to type with a hand and four fingers. I have a new found respect for my TA. Who types with two fingers. **


	6. The Internet

_1.6 The Internet_

"What's this?" Elphaba asked, reaching over to touch the screen. 

"It's a laptop. Don't touch," I ordered as I smacked her hand away from my precious computer. Hell if I was going to let her smudge the screen up with her long fingers. Fiyero and Glinda had already lost interest in the small black thing they didn't understand and moved to sit on the more comfortable bed.

"What are you doing?" Elphaba asked, sitting down next to me and staring intently at the screen. White words ran a commentary too fast to read as the device booted, and Elphaba gasped; "How are you doing that?" she demanded as the screen flashed.

"Magic," I mumbled offhand as I typed in the password to my account. I was kidding, but Elphaba seemed to take it seriously,

"Glinda's specializing in sorcery," she provided, "But last time I saw her try her hand at magic our bathroom ended up filled with pink, indestructible bubbles."

"That's because you were hovering over me the entire time, distracting me!" Glinda protested from the bed. She and Fiyero were now playing some sort of game with their hands. 

"I won," Fiyero grinned and Elphaba rolled her eyes, muttering,

"That's because I didn't want you blowing up the shower," darkly under her breath.

I gave her a weird look, opening the Internet browser as she watched in awe, 

"Do you control it with your thoughts?" she asked, leaning in closer to the screen. 

Feeling a little bad for her I shook my head, "It's a computer. You use this," I said, demonstrating with the mouse pad, "To move the cursor," I pointed to the corresponding small arrow moving around on the screen, "You use the cursor to select what you want to do, like, say, I'll click on this box to fill in what I want to search, and you use the keypad to type in the letters," I did so, typing in 'OZ' in the search bar, "and you either press the 'enter' button," I pointed it out to her on the keyboard, "Or you click on 'Search'." I did the latter, moving the cursor over the 'Search' button and pressing it. 

It took a second to load, but the screen switched as the list of results came up. 

"What are those?" 

"Well, they're a list of all the WebPages that relate to what I searched. So I typed in 'Oz' and these are the websites that might have something to do with your home." 

"What's a Webpage? And a website?" Elphaba asked, and I could see she was having difficulties wrapping her head around the concept. 

I clicked on the link that said, 'Welcome to Oz!', doubting it would be any help. "Well, a couple decades ago, this guy invented something called the Internet. It's sort of a connection between all the computers in our world- the 'www' here stands for the World Wide Web. This," I indicated the screen, "Is the webpage I'm on. Up here," I pointed to the website name, "Is the name of the webpage. Most have more than just one page. You don't happen to live in Australia, do you?" I asked, scanning the page and seeing that 'Oz' on the site was referring to the down under folk. Ozzie's. The similarity never occurred to me. 

Elphaba shook her head as Glinda called my name. I turned around temporarily to see what she was doing, "Can I look through your closet?"

I nodded, "You probably won't find anything that you're used to, though," I cautioned and realized that if we were going to be going out in public, I needed to find some clothes that wouldn't make them look so conspicuous. Especially Glinda. Fiyero and Elphaba might get away with their attire, but the dress Glinda was wearing made her look like some sort of Disney princess. 

"What can you look up on this 'internet'?" Elphaba asked, bringing my attention back to the computer. 

I shrugged, "Anything you want." 

The prospect seemed to excite her, "Anything? How about Animal rights?" 

"Yeah," I said, weary of listening to another one of Elphaba's lectures about the Animals (Fiyero explained the whole difference between upper case Animal and lower case animal, thank goodness). "But I want to figure out if there's anything on here that will point me in the right direction for getting you guys home." 

"How many websites can there be that are related to Oz?" 

"Uh…" I looked over at the results, "About a hundred seventy two," I paused, counting the zeros and Elphaba managed to say, 

"That doesn't sound overtly impossible to-" 

before I said, "Million." 

Her face fell, "Oh." 

"But they get more and more irrelevant and unrelated the further you go on. Usually if it's not on the first page, you need to specify your search." 

"Shanny?" Glinda said as I clicked on another link. The search for Oz already seemed to be a lost cause. "Are you sure this is your closet?" she asked and I nodded,

"If this is still my room." 

"Why is all your clothing for men?" she asked, holding up a pair of sweat pants. 

I sighed, really not wanting to get into a lesson on apparel on Earth, and especially in Regina. "Because that's what we wear here," I said shortly, going back to teaching Elphaba about the Internet and ignoring Glinda's question of,

"But what on Oz _for_?" 

**A/N: Hehe, I know they fight a lot. But see? No fighting this time. But they both have really short tempers, so I figure they'd be at each others throats for the most part. Just give me two or three chapters and there'll be some other good stuff. Thanks for reviewing! (You know who you are, and I don't want to spell your name wrong, sorry ;) )**


	7. The Science of Darwin

_1.7 The Science of Darwin_

"This is the library," Shandra said, turning on the lights. A spider scuttled off of the light switch, away from her hand. I felt Glinda recoil beside me. Sometime's she was so predictable. 

Fiyero peered into the room, pressing up behind me, as I hadn't moved forward yet. "There's so many… books," I heard Glinda say and I rolled my eyes,

"Of course there are Glin; rooms containing many books are usually called libraries." 

Shandra was already inside the small room, looking through the piles of musty papers and books that littered the tables, "This used to be my Dad's study… I don't really know what we'll find here." 

"Well," I said, finally giving in to Fiyero's incisive pushing and taking a couple steps in, "It'll probably be more helpful than the 'Internet' was." 

It really was a peculiar thing, the Internet. There was what seemed like an unlimited amount of knowledge available on it- too much almost. Books seemed to be much more practical for me. And I still didn't quite understand how the whole screen worked- how the -cursor was it? worked, how the buttons knew they were being pressed… it was an odd piece of technology. It seemed extraneous. But then again, most things in this land did. 

There was an… electric pencil sharpener on Shandra's desk. You placed a pencil inside of it, it made a commotion worthy of a stampede, and then you removed the pencil, a quarter gone, and it was sharp. I didn't understand its purpose, other than to satisfy the needs of extremely lazy people who couldn't bring it upon themselves to sharpen a pencil by hand. 

"Come on Fae," Fiyero whispered in my ear, "Doesn't this make you feel closer to home?" he asked. 

I shrugged, breaking away from him and examining the spines of the thick books lining the shelves. They looked different from the ones at Shiz University, and I didn't really know why. It wasn't that they were made from different material… it was almost like-

"Elphie can you read the writing on these books?" 

That was it. The writing on the spines was different from the books in Oz. But… it felt like I could almost… understand them. I took one off the shelf I thought read "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals". 

"What's wrong with them Fiyero?" I heard Shandra ask and she went over to help Fiyero decipher the book in his hands. 

I sat down on the ground, concentrating on the words on the page in front of me. They danced around for a couple of seconds, the symbols and characters somewhat familiar. It was the language itself that was strange- foreign. The words read:

_**Suffering of the body and mind: weeping.**__ – I have already described in sufficient detail, in the third chapter, the signs of extreme pain, as shown by screams or groans, with the withering of the whole body and the teeth clenched or ground together. These signs are often accompanied or followed by profuse sweating, pallor, trembling, utter prostration, or faintness. No suffering is greater than that from extreme pain or horror, but here a distinct emotion comes into play and will be elsewhere considered. Prolonged suffering, especially of mind, passes into low spirits, grief, dejection, and despair, and these states will be the subject of the following chapter._

"Elphie," Shandra was saying softly, and I looked up at her. She was kneeling so that her face was level with mine, leaning her hands on her knees. The look of worry on her face confused me. 

"Can you read that Elphie?" she asked quietly, and I nodded solemnly. "Can I see it?" she asked and I passed it wordlessly over to her. Fiyero and Glinda were staring at me strangely, both quiet at the same time, which was a little unnerving.

Shandra took the book and stood up; glancing at the page I'd been working through, her eyes immediately finding the paragraph I'd managed to interpret and she said, "Oh Elphie, you shouldn't be reading this." 

"Don't call me that," I said half-heartedly, Glinda rushing to my side as Shandra slide the book back onto the shelf in its place. 

"You can read that Elphie?" Glinda demanded, pulling me up out of my half-sitting, half-kneeling position on the floor.

I nodded, unsure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. 

Glinda looked at me puzzled, "But where in Oz did you learn to? Quadling Country?"

Shaking my head, "I don't really know." 

"But why can you read it if they can't?" Shandra asked, ever the thorn in my side. Her manner towards me had changed and it was different and it bothered me. I wanted to know why.

"I don't know," I snapped, shuffling away from Glinda, "If I knew then I'd tell you, wouldn't I?" 

Shandra shook her head, "I'm sorry if I got the impression you enjoyed alienating people, Elphaba. Apparently I was wrong! Sue me!" 

"I don't mind sharing," I protested, not bothering to ask what the expression 'sue me' meant. Glinda and Fiyero both raised their eyebrows almost in unison, knowing full well that it was a bold-faced lie, "I just don't want to share every detail of my life with _you_." 

"Well your friends seem just as surprised as I am, so why don't you tell it to them as well!" 

I made a move forward to attack her but Fiyero was in front of me before I could blink, 

"Now why don't we all just lower our voices and take a second to calm ourselves?" He pretended it was a question but the way he was holding my arm I knew he wouldn't have it any other way. 

"She provoked me," I growled, realizing how hard my heart was beating. 

"Elphie," Fiyero said in that stupid 'be-reasonable' tone of his and I yanked my arm away, turning around,

"Whatever. How do we get out of here?" I asked as civilly as I could. 

"I don't know," she answered, and I could hear the same forced civility in her voice that was in mine.

"That's a surprise," I muttered under my breath and Fiyero looked at me disapprovingly. I glared at him as Shandra continued, 

"First we need to figure out where it is you need to go to, and then we can figure out how to get you three there."

"Well, let's get started. The sooner the better right?" 

Shandra glared at me, "Couldn't have said it better myself." 

**A/N: So the other chapter didn't really have much… plot-i-ness, and this is sort of a companion to that, so yeah. Posting them at the same time. Like to know what you're thinking, people who accidentally click through the whole story. Tell me how that journey went. Wow, I sound pathetic, so I'll stop now. **

**Oh, and the book I got that from is by Darwin- 'tis good, check it out… if you're into that kind of stuff that is.**

**  
P.S. I know they're fighting again- they'll stop soon enough ;)**


	8. The Picture Book

_1.8 The Picture Book_

I felt completely useless. 

There was only a certain amount of time that I could tickle Glinda and get away with it. As things were right now, the three girls were about ready to attack me, and I wouldn't be surprised if they 'accidentally' inflicted bodily harm. Weighting the chances, I looked over at Glinda, who was sitting beside me (on a pile of books nonetheless, refusing to allow her dress to touch 'that musty old floor'). The oddest sensation came over me and it felt like she was reading my mind. 

"Don't you even dare, Fiyero," she warned in her sternest voice and I sighed, turning my attention instead to Elphaba. 

Dutifully, she was sitting on the chair, her face angled towards me so her hair fell away from it and I had a perfect view. Watching her read, I realized that she was much slower than usual, sometimes even mouthing the words or phrases out silently. I had no idea how she managed to make the mess of letters into a comprehensible sentence, but I didn't question it. 

You could tell when she finally understood what she'd been trying to read, because her head would tilt up in a half-nod, and a small smile would begin to tug at the edges of her lips. But the minute celebration was over almost before it was started, Elphaba plowing right on to the next segment. 

I realized how intently I'd been watching her after a few minutes and tore my eyes away from her declaring,

"I'm bored." 

No one paid me any attention except for Glinda, who said, "Do you think I'm enjoying myself Fiyero? Stop complaining," while concentrating intently on evaluating her fingernails. 

I didn't bother answering her question, contemplating my own fingers for a few seconds, wondering if I could see what Glinda was obviously seeing in her own. The nails looked just fine and I didn't understand how anyone could be so engrossed with them for such a long time. 

Looking around, I started rolling my fingers on the floor. It didn't take long to get a rise out of Elphaba,

"Don't _do_ that Fiyero," she ordered, without even breaking her concentration. 

Reluctantly complying, I sighed heavily. Shandra was forgotten in the corner of the small 'library', reading a book while sitting on the portable ladder that was attached to the wall. I'd seen her use it to obtain the book from the high shelf, but that had been a little while ago. This must have meant there was something useful to be found in the book. 

My eyes began to wander and I looked around the room, noting how many loose papers there seemed to be littered everywhere. Between the books, next to the books, on the books, under the books, coming out of the books- an idea came to my mind,

"Shanny?" I asked and she made a noise that sounded like 'hm', which I assumed meant she was paying attention and wanted me to go continue the question, "Do you have any picture books?" I asked. 

She looked up from her book at me, finally paying attention, "What?"

Glinda sat up a little straighter, intrigued.

"A picture book. With pictures in it." 

Shandra gave me a funny look and I realized what an abysmal statement I'd just created. 

"Sorry Fiyero," she said gently, mocking me I was sure, "I don't have any picture books for you, sweetheart." 

I sunk back down into the shelf of books I was using as a backrest, dejected. Even though I hadn't much experience with that particular term before, I was sure she was using it somehow to tease me. Following the lines of the hardwood was reminiscent of last night, as were the staggered row of books along the bottom of Elphaba's desk. It reminded me of something. 

"Shanny," I started and she 'hm'ed again, "What is the book beneath the guest room bed about?" Before she could answer, Elphaba groaned, 

"Can't you be silent for more then five consecutive minutes?" she demanded. 

I looked at her blankly, but thankfully, Glinda the Good came to my rescue. "We've been sitting here for an hour Elphie!" she pointed out. Then she added, "We can only watch you reading for so long!"

"You were watching me read?" Elphaba asked, a little unsure of herself. 

"I wasn't," Glinda clarified, "But Fiyero was." 

Maybe Glinda wasn't so good after all, I thought to myself, Elphaba's gaze now fixed on me. I felt my cheeks beginning to flush, 

"What else am I supposed to do?" I asked and Shandra looked up at this. 

"You know, I never said you guys had to stay in here with us. You can go roam the house if you're bored," she offered. "Just don't break anything and don't go outside- the neighbors might see you. And don't go upstairs," she added hastily. 

Glinda perked up considerably as I confirmed, "You mean we're free to familiarize ourselves with your home?"

"Sure," she wrinkled her nose, "If that's what you want to call it."

I looked up at Glinda, who shrugged, "Why not," she said and I stood up, giving her a hand. By the time we'd crossed the room, Shandra had already absorbed herself back into the same book. This probably meant there was something useful to be found in it, and I hoped that they would hurry. I stepped out into the hall, turning towards the guest room. 

"Where are we going Fiyero?" Glinda asked, slightly behind me. 

"To the room we slept in last night," I answered and she smiled, 

"To get your picture book?" she asked with a sly smile. Why did everyone find that so amusing? If we weren't able to read the books, maybe we could help by examining diagrams of things. Then it occurred to me that by calling them 'picture books' everyone had thought I was saying 'illustrated children's books'. 

"Yes," I said proudly, deciding to go along with it, "That would be precisely why." I poked Glinda in the side and she squealed, attempting to get away from me. 

Pinning Glinda to the wall wasn't very difficult and I kept her there, tickling her for a couple of minutes. It didn't take long for her to reach hysterics from the giggling and I released her, almost feeling Elphaba glare at me through the walls that divided us. 

The calming silence that followed was interrupted by the inarguable sound of glass shattering. The sound was coming from in front of us, so it couldn't have been Elphaba or Shandra. 

"Did you hear that?" I asked Glinda, and she nodded frightfully, frozen with her hand over her mouth. "Stay here," I ordered and once again she nodded fearfully. 

I crept slowly towards the door of the room, opening it cautiously. There was a figure crouched behind the bed, bent down to pick something up. From my vantage point at the door, I couldn't really see who they were, but I knew with some confidence that they were doing something they shouldn't have been. 

"What are you doing?" I asked loudly, taking a step into the room and a head come up, eerily creating an illusion that it was floating on the bed's blankets. 

The man had a lean, lightly colored face and blonde hair darker then Glinda's. He didn't seem too surprised at being caught- he smiled pleasantly and stood up with an object in his arms. 

"That's not yours," I said even though I wasn't certain. I took another couple steps and he began to back towards the window. I could see it was a book now, and assumed it was the book I'd come to get. "Give it back, and there won't be any problems," I promised but he said nothing. 

He was tall but the black clothing that hugged his body revealed he was much skinner then me, and I determined I could take him if I needed to. And if not, Shandra and Elphaba were in the next room- if I learned anything from witnessing their first meeting; it was that they could both hold their own fairly well. 

"Give me the book," I requested once again but the man was up and over the window sill before I could do anything else. Cursing myself for my lack of action, I stuck my head through the window, watching for the place where he entered the forest. Checking under the bed quickly to confirm that it was in fact the book he'd stolen, I ran out of the room, grabbing Glinda on my way back to the library.

"Are you alright Fiyero?" Glinda asked, her face pale and full with worry. She allowed me to take her arm and tug her down the small hallway. "What happened? Where are we going?" 

I ignored her, shouting down the hall,

"Shanny! Fae! Someone stole my picture book!"


	9. Oh, That Book

1

_1.9 Oh, That Book _

I looked over at Elphaba after Glinda's laughter had stopped, wondering if it was worth the risk to try and talk to her.

The potential for things to get physical without Fiyero or even Glinda in the room refereeing us was uncomfortably high. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, I closed my book quietly.

"Elphie?" I said hesitantly, and she looked up from her book,

"Yes?"

Well, at least she didn't snap at me for calling her Elphie. It was just that Elphaba was such a mouthful. And she didn't ignore me, so that had to be a good sign.

"You know how Glinda and Fiyero said there was a loud bang right before they came here?"

"Yes?" she asked suspiciously. She was always suspicious.

"Do you know what made the noise?" I watched for any tell-tale sign that would indicate she was lying to me. She looked down at her book, cautiously wording her question,

"What would give you that impression?" she asked carefully.

I shrugged, "You seem like you know a lot more than you're letting on. At the table, you had this look-"

"How is it," she snapped at the mention of the table, "You believe you can read me and understand what I'm thinking after only knowing me for two days?"

"I don't think I can, I'm just asking a question," I defended, surprised at her hostility, "Why do you always jump to the most argumentative conclusions? I already asked you to stop hating me without getting to know me."

"Hate is a very strong word," she said, looking away and sighing, "I wouldn't be as rash as to say that I hated you. I'm just a little uneasy,"

I nodded my understanding, finishing her sentence, "Because you've never been through this before and you're nervous and scared about what's going to happen-"

"I never said I was scared," she interrupted, somewhat alarmed.

"You didn't have to. Anyone in his or her right mind would be scared. Elphie-"

"Don't call me that,"

"Fine, Miss Thropp," I growled. I hated it when she did that, "Do you think that Glinda and Fiyero aren't scared? Of course they are. Do they think that I'm going to sell their souls to the devil? I don't know for sure, but I hope not. They're good people and I like them just fine."

The statement was completely lost on her and she said with some conviction, "I don't believe in the concept of souls."

"This isn't about just you!" my voice was raising and I took a breath, calming myself. "Fiyero and Glinda want to get home just as badly as you do. So just tell me what really happened to get you sent here,"

"What really happened?"

"Yes," I nodded, leaning forward, "The truth. I won't tell Fiyero or Glinda if you don't want me to, you have my word. But I want to help you Elphie, I want to help you get back to Oz. And if you don't believe that, at least believe that I want to help Fiyero and Glinda back there." I was beginning to break her will, I could see. She opened her mouth and then closed it before starting to say,

"I-"

I got up from the ladder, interrupting her, "I'm going to be able to tell if you're hiding something from me, Elphie. I could tell at the breakfast table and I could tell right there when you contemplated it."

"Don't call me-"

"Elphie? Please? So I can help you?" I sat down next to her, placing the book down and looking into her eyes. "Please?" I asked, willing her to see that I was really only trying to help them return to wherever the heck they'd come from.

Elphaba looked down at her hands for a second before looking back up at me. She was going to tell the truth this time.

"I think it was my-"

Fiyero's yell interrupted her confession before she could get any further,

"Shanny! Fae! Someone stole my picture book!"

I was going to kill Fiyero. I really, truly was.

I was so close to getting Elphaba to trust me, so close to getting her to open up and tell me how they got here, but no. Fiyero has to ruin it all because of some stupid picture book.

Listening to him and Glinda as they trampled through the halls and skidded into walls, I conducted a silent count down in my head,

5… 4… 3… 2… 1… and…

Fiyero appeared at the doorway, tugging a very distressed Glinda behind him. "Shanny, someone broke into the room and took it,"

What _was_ he rambling on about anyways?

"What picture book, Fiyero?" I asked, exasperated by the boy for the first time since I'd met him.

Glinda removed Fiyero's hand from her arm before looking up. Seeing the close proximity with which Elphaba and I were seated by each other she cocked her head, "Is everything alright?"

"Peachy," I answered tersely.

Glinda looked confused.

Elphaba allowed a shadow of a smile appear on her face.

Fiyero pointed down the hall. "The book," he said. And off my blank look, continued, "The book under the bed in the guest room! Someone broke through the window and took it!"

I stood up, now slightly alarmed, "Someone broke the window?"

"Yes!" Fiyero exclaimed, looking relieved that I was finally taking him seriously, "And they took the book and ran away before I could get it back or stop them!"

"What bo-…" Oh. That book. _His _book. It felt like someone took a bag of ice and placed it in the middle of my chest.

I convulsed involuntarily.

"Show me," I said a little shakily. I got up, my walk slowly turning into a jog, slowly turning into a full out run, and blowing past Fiyero.

This was _so_ not good.

Within seconds I was at the door of the room, skidding to a halt. I felt Elphaba stop short of running into me, Fiyero and Glinda not too far behind her. "What is this book?" she questioned quietly. I think she was the only one who grasped its importance. I didn't answer her- I couldn't answer her.

Why would someone want it in the first place? Unless… they knew more about it than I did.

There was glass on the floor, and a distinct body-shaped hole in the window, just like Fiyero said. Someone had definitely broken into my house. I ran the last couple feet to the bed, dropping down to my knees, one hand on the floor and one on the bed, balancing myself.

And just like Fiyero said, there was a glaring absence of book.

I swore quietly to myself and Elphaba was pulling me up,

"What book?" she asked more insistently.

"Which way did the thief go?" I asked Fiyero and he pointed out the window,

"I watched him go into the woods, right beside the shed. I might be able to track him-"

I cut him off, a plan already formulating in my head, "No. He's probably already past the bridge. Fiyero, stay here in case they come back for something else,"

"They?" Elphaba interrupted and I nodded,

"Whoever took it wasn't working alone. Glinda-" I took one look at Glinda and almost laughed despite the severity of the situation, "You're going to have to stay here with Fiyero. If you go outside in that outfit…" I trailed off, briefly allowing myself to imagine the havoc. I could clearly picture the children in the community believing she was some sort of fairy or princess and clamoring around for her attention.

Glinda touched the frill of the puffy dress a little hurt, "What's wrong with it?" she asked with the slightest trace of a pout.

"What's wrong with it is it looks nothing like what I'm wearing."

And that was all the time I was going to spend on that, which left… Elphaba.

"Elphaba," I said uncertainly, hoping I had won her over in the library, "Would you… come with me?"

She nodded without hesitation.

"Great," I nodded back. I started for the door, dropping by my room for a couple of things.

"Shanny?" Fiyero asked from the back of the line we'd formed unintentionally. "How will we contact you if the thieves return?"

Before I realized it the words, "Call me," left my mouth.

"I don't think you'd hear us," Glinda provided helpfully.

I nodded, realizing my mistake. "You're right." I dropped my cell phone on my bedspread. Right now was not the best time to get into a lesson on modern-day communication methods. "Well, we shouldn't be too long," I said instead and this seemed to pacify Fiyero.

"You know where they were headed?" Elphaba asked sounding a little surprised.

"I'm pretty sure," I replied, looking at her oddly.

I didn't say that, did I?

We were almost out the door when I turned to Fiyero and said, "Don't go upstairs!"

Elphaba ignored the comment as she started towards the woods. I heard her ask, "So what about this book?" before she stopped, realizing I wasn't following her. "What are you doing?" she asked louder. I was happy to see that there wasn't even a trace of suspicion in her expression. Just confusion.

I pointed to the vehicle in the driveway, "We're taking the car."

Elphaba looked at it curiously for a second before asking, "What's a car?"

I grinned, opening the door for her and instructing her to sit inside. She did so rather reluctantly, wincing when I shut the door.

Oh boy, I thought to myself, this was going to be fun.

**A/N: This was originally two chapters, but they're pretty much about the same thing so I condensed them :) They are really short chapters though. Sorry. I don't really know why that is… **


	10. Ninjas

1

_1.10 Ninjas _

"Elphie," I said kindly, turning the engine off and removing my seatbelt. The green girl was curled up into an astonishingly small ball, pressing her eyes into her knees, her arms wrapped around her legs, hugging them close to her chest.

"Elphie," I tried again, placing a hand on the nearest Elphaba arm. "It wasn't that bad," I consoled, attempting to not think of how pathetic it was that a person like Elphaba was scared of something as trivial as a car ride.

Elphaba muttered something into her legs but the only words I was able to catch were "death-machine".

"It's over," I said, moving my hand to her shoulder and unbuckling her seatbelt. The automatically reclining strip of nylon was enough to send her flying through the door… or would have been, if she knew how to open it.

As it were she hit her head on the window and I reached over calmly to pull on the handle. The door popped open and Elphaba jumped out of the vehicle like a cat fleeing water.

I got out as well, making sure to lock the doors. Elphaba looked at me from over the top of the car, at least ten yards away,

"Promise me we'll never have to go through that ordeal again," she said. To her credit, she did look a little pale and shaky, shivering either from adrenaline or cold. The sun was beginning to set and even though it was summer time, the forest surrounding us caused it to feel considerably cooler.

I placed the keys under a rock nearby before turning to address her, "Only on the way back home," I reassured and she shook her head stubbornly,

"I'll walk back then,"

"Elphie-" I started but she cut me off resolutely,

"Don't 'Elphie' me. I'm not setting foot in that uncontrollable demon contraption again. What sort of monstrous invention is it, by the way?" she demanded and I shrugged. I knew there was something about Ford, and a snippet of information about BMW and their world-war airplane originating engines, but I also knew that I didn't have enough information to satisfy Elphaba's inquisitiveness.

I didn't answer, all right with letting her have her way for now. In the long run I knew that what was required would take priority over what she wanted and I didn't want to make the decision any harder by making her feel like she needed to prove to me that she was a person of her word.

We started walking along the woods in the general direction of the river, looking for anything that would indicate our thief's path. "Shandra?" Elphaba called after a few minutes of silence and I looked over, wondering if it was the first time she'd called me by my first name.

"What's eating you?" I asked after a second and she gave me an odd look.

Oh, right. Now she thought I was crazy for thinking something or someone was physical eating her.

"Nothing's… eating me," she said cautiously, eyeing me like I was from a different species. And I guess I was, technically.

I clarified my intention, "What I meant was what's been bothering you?"

"Why is this book so important to you?" she asked.

Hmm. Good question.

"It's not a children's book, is it?" she continued and I shook my head,

"I'm not sure what Fiyero was thinking it was, but it's defiantly not a children's book. It might have a couple diagrams in it, but it's anything but childish."

Elphaba nodded thoughtfully, glancing at me before saying, "But you've still haven't answered why it's so important to you."

I looked down at the ground, hoping to evade the question for a little while longer. I'm not sure if I was waiting for Elphaba to say something else, but her lack of response to my lack of response fed my guilt and eventually I couldn't stay silent any longer,

"I used to be my Dad's. That's all I really know. I used to look at it when I was little, but I haven't fully read it. I just… know that it's something that could be dangerous in the hands of-"

Suddenly I was in the process of falling into bushel of bushes, Elphaba hissing, "Don't say a word," as I broke through the branches, the bristly twigs covering up any sign of my clumsy entrance. I fell hard on my elbow and resisted the urge to cry out.

I was almost certain that Elphaba had shoved me purposely into this pile of prickly life.

Through the stiff leaves I could see Elphaba standing, rubbing her elbow absently where I was just a moment ago, waiting for something.

Nothing happened.

An owl called from somewhere in the distance and my head was halfway through the bushes when two men materialized like ninja's from the dark and jumped on Elphaba. She cried out in surprise but was almost instantly silenced.

"Stupid green vegetable," one of them muttered, "Why aren't your friends with you? Where are they?"

I couldn't see exactly what was happening, but it looked like one of them held her hands as the other gagged her. Anger and an urge to attack these men almost caused me to reveal myself. But I understood now what Elphaba had been doing- what she'd somehow sensed.

Remaining out of sight now ensured that I could rescue her later without endangering Fiyero or Glinda.

"Not going to tell us?" the other one said, as they both lifted Elphaba to her feet, keeping her arms pinned firmly behind her back. They didn't seem too worried that they were asking questions she was obviously unable to answer.

"They'll come around sooner or later, looking," the first one said confidently, forcing Elphaba to walk with them as they continued down the clearing.

"Hopefully sooner _than_ later," the other said as they faded away and the sound of both of them laughing like they were sharing some clever little joke was the last thing I heard clearly.

I personally didn't get it. I was sure that Elphaba was just as lost as I was on the humor plane. And another thing I didn't get was why she had pushed me into the bush instead of diving into them herself.

I removed myself from the underbrush with the intent to think about it later and cautiously looked around, suddenly paranoid that there were more of them. I silently thanked Elphie, a little distraught that I'd lost my much more observant partner.

It seemed that the only logical thing to do was to get her back so that Fiyero and Glinda wouldn't rip my head off. I started after the three of them, keeping my distance, knowing deep down that I wasn't going after Elphaba for only Fiyero and Glinda.

Deep down, really deep down?

I knew I was doing it because I already felt the absence of her irrational, stubborn, confrontational personality.

Whatever.

**A/N: ****Okay, you know what I just noticed? Elphaba, Fiyero, Glinda- E, F, G, as in, the order of the alphabet? WEIRD! Or not… And then it could be- Domine, Elphaba, Fiyero, Glinda- D, E, F, G! **

**Feedback appreciated. **

**Oh, and the book judges time by seconds/minutes/hours, right? Gah!**


	11. Importance of Paying Attention

1

_1.11 Importance of Paying Attention_

What I really wanted to do was rip open the bulky one's stomach, take his small intestine and wrap it around his throat, and, while he choked to death, scratch the eyes off of the dark blondes and point him towards a fire.

They were really that infuriating.

And they couldn't even come up with half-intelligent insults.

Glinda would put them to shame without even trying to. And even though the blonde haired girl wasn't as dense as she led people on to believe, it was still saying something.

"What's the matter greenie, got a frog in your mouth?"

The old scarf they'd wrapped around my head was uncomfortably tight and the fabric felt distinctly unnatural between my teeth. Regardless of the intensity with which I tried to spit it out, the darn thing remained stubbornly in place. It amazed me they were able to get that one thing right.

"Oh look, the beast's getting restless," skinny semi-dark haired man said and I glared at him while the other laughed.

Oh how I would love to get my hands on him, bash his head in to prove that there was nothing inside it. How I marveled that these two were even capable of coherent, if sometimes grammatically incorrect, speech. That they could walk and talk at the same time.

I didn't very much mind the fact my wrists were restrained, tied behind me around a tree. I didn't even mind much that they'd done the same with my ankles, though my legs had already passed onto numbness.

What really bothered me was that they'd taken away my ability- my right to speak.

Forcefully.

It created a sense of helplessness, which only fueled my anger and proneness to violence: one of the reasons they wouldn't come near me. They already bore some battle scars from their mistake of releasing me without agreeing on who would do what. Chaos ensued and they paid dearly before they managed to restrain me again. Just in time, for I thought I saw Shandra lurking in the shadows, seconds away from coming to my aid.

Now they settled on attempting to agitate me from afar. It wasn't very effective.

"… on Oz would he?"

Oz? I caught the word and wondered what it meant. Was it possible that these two were not random attackers? I started paying attention;

"I've heard her say that she has a power most only dream of,"

"And what would that be? Being able to come here? Who would want that when you've got all of Oz back home?"

There was weak verification that they, too, were from Oz.

"Well she doesn't know now, does she?" They both looked pointedly at me and I'd never felt more limited in my life. What had they been talking about? I eyed them suspiciously and they laughed at my confusion.

I wouldn't have asked what they were talking about even if I could, but my inability to mock them or even speak out against them enraged me.

"Are you a wicked little witch?" the bulky one asked, shuffling closer to me. I glared at him, daring him on. "Do you want the magick book?" he said, holding a book- the book I assumed was stolen from Shandra- waving it in front of me. "Do you want to magick us away?"

He was now almost just inches away from me and I couldn't resist the urge to say something. Even though it came out as an odd combination of vowels, it did the trick, and as he leaned forward to both try to hear properly and understand I swung my head down, hearing the satisfying crunch of his nose.

The man screamed and I thought I heard a giggle behind me, but it lasted for only a second. "Bitch!" he screamed, kicking me in the side, and swearing some more. Finally he stopped stomping around and turned to me, seething; "You disgusting weed!" he slapped me across the face, digging in his nails so they broke through the skin.

I bit down on the rag, willing the tears that instinctively filled my eyes not to fall. Taking a fist full of hair he pulled me up while the skinny dark-blonde hastily stood up. The ropes around my wrists and ankles prevented me from being pulled up all the way, stopping me in a painful compromise.

"When we get back to Oz," he promised in a whisper, his voice full of loathing and contempt, "I'm going to make it my personal duty to make sure that you suffer in every way possible."

He dropped me and gave me a kick before turning around. Tears rolled down my cheeks, adding to the pain of the gouges from his slap and I lowered my head, hoping to hide them from my captors.

"You all right?" his friend asked while he tentatively touched his nose, blood still flowing freely from it. They both ignored me.

"Fine!" bulky hissed, nursing wounds that were more than superficial. I smiled, happy that I'd not only managed to hurt his nose, but his pride as well.

After all, not only was I a rather small being compared to him, I was also a girl, tied up and gagged at the moment.

Like I said before- I was amazed that these boys could walk and talk without hurting themselves fatally.


	12. Shanny

_1.12 Shanny_

The campfire had started to simmer down into nothing and Elphaba had unintentionally begun to nod off against the tree behind her. I was almost certain that the two goons were dead asleep, knowing they wouldn't have the brains to plan a fake slumber for an ambush.

Besides, I was confident I'd been there long enough to hear any sort of plan. And they had absolutely none.

"Elphie," I whispered quietly, careful not to step on the branches as I came out of my hiding spot. I opened the knife I'd brought with me. It was dark and the trees blocked out much light from the moon, but I could still see her face from the glowing embers.

I bit my lip when I saw the damage stupid overweight goon had done, the three perfectly horizontal lines embedded into her cheek.

At least they weren't bleeding any more.

I put a hand on her shoulder, unwilling to turn my back towards the sleepers. "Elphie," I whispered again, touching her uninjured cheek. The touch seemed to do it and suddenly her dark eyes were open, looking solemnly at me. I waited, but she simply stared.

"I was scared you were going to freak out for a second there," I whispered, pushing her head forwards and working on the scarf gag. "I didn't want you screaming or something and waking them up."

I finally loosened it, and it fell to the ground hitting it like a heavier-then-average leaf.

"What could possibly be threatening about them?" were Elphaba's first words laced with contempt. Gingerly touching her injured cheek she winced and I noted red marks that I didn't remember. She nodded towards the two sleeping men, disgusted, "They don't even bother to keep one awake as a sentry."

It was then that I decided if there was ever in the middle of a war or life-or-death situation, I definitely called dibbs on Elphaba.

"Are you alright Elphie?" I asked, crouching down so I was level with her. I took her chin in my hand and moved her head so I could get a better look at the cuts. They didn't look too deep and I didn't think they'd scar.

"We'll see in a tick tock," she said, "Get these off me," she indicated by shaking her arms and I used the knife to cut away the bonds on her wrists and ankles.

"I wanted to come sooner-" I started to explain standing up but Elphaba cut me off,

"I understand why you waited. I would have done the same." Then a completely uncharacteristic, "Thank you."

I shifted uncomfortably on my feet, "You were the one who saved me first."

"The details are extraneous. Now help me to my feet so we can get back to the others," she said and I complied, taking her hands in my own.

I pulled and she suddenly cried out; it took all my strength to keep her from falling face first on the ground. I crouched again, moving under her so she could put her weight on me and our new position strongly resembled that of a hug.

"Are they looking at us?" I asked, not daring to turn around for fear of hurting Elphaba.

I felt Elphaba shake her head, "But I do believe one has a thumb in his mouth. I hope it's his own."

"Are you okay?"

Elphaba once again shook her head, "The nerves in my legs have gone numb," she said and I winced. That was going to smart later.

"Do you think I could let you go?" I asked and she nodded. I removed myself from her and she held herself up in essentially the same position with her hands.

"Here," I said, bracing myself and reaching for her hands, "This time I'll stand still and you take as much time as you need to get up, alright?"

"Alright," she said, giving me her hands.

It was slow going. I estimated that Elphaba had been on her knees for six or seven hours, the majority of them spent inactive. As she struggled to stand, my thoughts drifted to Fiyero and Glinda. I prayed that they hadn't ruined my house.

I managed to do that just fine on my own, thank you very much.

"I can't…" Elphaba pulled me out of my musings as she stood up, struggling to stay balanced and say the words. She was muttering some words in a foreign language that I had a strong hunch were swears. I slid myself under her arm, placing it over my shoulder and wrapping my free arm around her waist. If worst came to worst, I was pretty sure I could carry her, but I was going to leave that for a last option.

"Are you alright Elphie?" I asked as she steadied on her feet, remembering how to balance.

Nodding bravely, she took a tentative step forward and almost broke her ankle.

"Whoa there, nugget," I said, catching her and helping her steady herself. I was surprised to find she was laughing- it was bitter though, and not from amusement,

"Now I understand how my sister must feel, needing to rely entirely on someone else to carry out such a simple task."

I decided not to ask questions about it, focusing on making sure Elphaba's feet were placed properly on the ground before letting her rest her own weight on them.

We were half way to the car when we heard the men's shouts. I whispered a swear word and looked to Elphaba who was furious,

"Those brainless monkeys- they've only just now realized that their prisoner has escaped? And listen to the amount of noise they're making; as if they wanted us to know they knew I was gone. Honestly,"

I cut Elphaba off there, knowing how she could go off on a tangent, "Is it getting any easier?"

It was slow progress and Elphaba knew it. "Yes, but I still can't go alone. Leave me here and go get Fiyero to help you."

"Elphie-" I started to protest but she shushed me,

"If you leave me now it means we have another chance to fight. If they capture both of us, it's a lost cause. Go," she whispered urgently, as the voices were nearing us.

I shook my head, "Elphie-"

"Go!" she said louder this time and I cringed, hoping they hadn't heard. "What are you doing?" she demanded as I dragged her over to overly leafy clump of ferns.

"Stay here and don't speak," I ordered, "I know you can't move anywhere so don't do anything stupid or rash- don't do anything you would normally do."

"Shandra-"

"It's Shanny," I said sternly as I turned away from her. "I left you once; I'm not doing it again," I said softly, hoping she would drop it. Hearing nothing I started moving through the woods, locating the goons easily and beginning my diversion.

**A/N: Props to anyone who notices the S60 reference ;)  
**


	13. Fiyero and Glinda

Fiyero sat on the floor, Glinda's head resting on his as she lay on the couch he used as a backrest

_1.13 Fiyero and Glinda_

Fiyero sat on the floor, Glinda's head resting on his as she lay on the couch he used as a backrest.

"Fiyero," she whispered and Fiyero realized he'd been staring at the big black box against the wall for what seemed like ages. Elphaba and Shandra had gone many hours ago, and the sun was beginning to rise.

Neither Glinda nor he was able to go to sleep knowing their friends were out there, and knowing they could do nothing but wait.

"Yes Glinda?" he answered, rubbing his eyes.

Glinda turned around to her stomach, sticking her face off the edge of the couch so Fiyero only had to turn his head to see her clearly, "What's going on between you and Elphie?"

He felt his face suddenly flush for no particular reason, "What do you mean?" he asked surprised. There was something going on between them?

"Well," Glinda drew out the word, turning onto her back and almost falling off the couch before catching herself, "She was on the floor with you this morning when I woke up. And then you were lying on her lap in the garden this afternoon, and in the library you were watching her read and-"

"Glinda," Fiyero interrupted and the blonde stopped chattering instantly, "Elphaba's a close friend. Just like you are," he said. She was, wasn't she?

"But it's never Elphaba any more," Glinda pouted, actually falling off the couch this time as she squirmed,

"You always call her Elphie," Fiyero pointed out, catching Glinda before her head hit the ground, "And so do all her other friends." He wasn't sure where this point of argument was heading anyways.

"Yeah, but you're the only one who's started calling her 'Fae'!" Fiyero grimaced as Glinda squealed in his ear triumphantly. "Where did that come from, uh?" she demanded.

Fiyero shrugged, "She said she liked it."

It was bending the truth a little, but Elphaba wouldn't find that out so he figured he was safe.

"Fiyero," Glinda shook her head of curls, unwilling to give up so easily, "I-"

For the second time that night they were interrupted by the sound of breaking glass.

"Did you hear that?" Fiyero whispered quietly, scrambling to get to his feet. Glinda nodded, her eyes wide, her 'yes' muffled by her hand. "Stay here," he said and Glinda shook her head, jumping up and clutching onto his arm,

"Don't leave me," she whispered and Fiyero didn't have the heart to tell her she would be safer staying there.

He led the way to the stairs, where the sound had originated from. Shandra's warning of not going upstairs overrode the need to figure out what was going on. But the second Fiyero placed his left foot on the first stair; a figure appeared on the landing, looking down at them.

It was a rather tall lady, her hair cut short and mussed in a way that suggested she didn't shower often. She was wearing the same kind of clothing that Shandra had- sweat pants were they? and a sweatshirt?

Fiyero decided that she didn't look threatening enough to deserve worry- in fact, she had the same angular face that Shandra had and he assumed this lady bore some relation to his friend. He was about to speak but she beat him to it,

"Are you Cinderella?" the lady asked, cocking her head to the side, looking past Fiyero and at Glinda.

"No," Glinda answered slowly, taking a small step backwards so that Fiyero was in a better position to protect her, "My name's Miss Glinda. And you are?"

"Oh," said the strange women ignoring Glinda's question and holding the wall as she stumbled down the stairs, "I must have missed that one then."

"Are you… alright?" Glinda asked, tentatively taking a step forwards, ambivalent. Was this lady a threat or simply deranged? Part of her yearned to help her and yet part of her was a little frightened.

"I think she might be… drunk," Fiyero whispered into her ear, watching the lady out of the corner of his eye.

"Really?" Glinda whispered back and Fiyero nodded, taking a couple steps forward so he could catch the strange woman as she fell off the last couple stairs and into his arms,

"Excuse me Madame?" he said. She smiled up at him dolefully,

"I haven't been call that in a long time, son," she slurred, patting his head, an awkward feat as Fiyero was at least two heads taller, "Thanks yous."

Fiyero remained still as he could, unsure of how to respond. "It was my pleasure," he settled on, smiling kindly.

There was an awkward silence before Fiyero cleared his throat,

"So, is there a room you'd like me to escort you to?"

The woman shook her head, giggling without reason, "What's your name young man?" she asked, leaning into Fiyero's arms and placing her head on his chest.

"Uh," he shot a look at Glinda, who was watching with exchange with the hints of a smile, "Fiyero…" he said, understanding he'd be getting no help from Glinda on this one.

"Well, Fiyero," the lady half-sung, putting her finger on his chest, making him shift uncomfortably, "What's you say we go make some cupcakes?"

Apparently Glinda had decided that the deranged woman posed no threat for she squealed, "I love cupcakes!", and clapped her hands. Fiyero glared at her.

"To the kitchen shan!" the lady announced, mimicking Glinda's enthusiasm and Fiyero found himself reluctantly getting dragged towards the kitchen.

**A/N: Would anyone like to read Fiyero/Glinda baking cupcakes? I'm debating whether or not to add it in…**

**By the way, I'm disappointed in all of you. Did none of you watch Studio 60? Shame on you! All of you! Except Slave. Cause you're awesome. Can I call you that?**


	14. The Book

_1.14 The Book_

So I figured I was really out of shape.

It was easy enough to lead dumb and dumber in a wide arc away from Elphaba by throwing rocks and generally making human-sounding noises, and then doubling back to pick up the crippled- by now they were hopefully running in circles. I felt like I'd been running in circles. Probably because running circles was the jest of what I'd done. It was tiring.

The sun was starting to come up when I was finally set to find Elphaba. It didn't prove to be too difficult- I had been wandering around for a while, afraid I'd misplaced her when I tripped over what I thought was a tree root and in reality was Elphaba's leg.

She hissed in pain and I immediately took her hands in mine, "We don't have much time. Come on," I said, pulling her up and ignoring the little sounds of pain I knew she hated herself for making. My heart went out to her but we seriously didn't have enough time.

Which was why we only got a entire two steps before I decided that the whole limp-walking thing wasn't working. "Elphie, I'm going to let go, but hold on to my shoulders with your hands," I warned, moving to stand in front of her.

"Okay," Elphaba nodded, gritting her teeth to get the word out and clenching my shoulders tightly.

"Have you ever had a piggy-back?" I asked her and even though I couldn't see her, I knew she was staring incredulously into the back of my head despite the pain.

"What in Oz is a- a _piggy-back_?" she demanded with a hint of disgust.

I could see where she was coming from- it was a really weird word.

"I'm going to crouch down a little and lift you onto my back, holding your legs with my hands. Got it?"

"I've… got, it," she said, the words sounding awkward and wrong coming from her mouth.

I did what I said I'd do and I could hear her struggling to maintain her breathing pattern. "It won't take very long to get to the car," I reassured her as I started walking.

"Just… try to hurry," she whispered and I quickened my pace. I knew she was in pain, but she wasn't exactly the lightest person in the world either. Not to say that she was heavy- lighter than I would gauge by looking at her. By wrapping her arms around my neck she helped a little, distributing some of her weight to my shoulders so my poor arms weren't alone with the burden.

"Shandra," she said after a couple of minutes.

I grunted, focusing all my energy on making it to the car. I could practically see it. Unless I was having one of those hallucination incidents- were they called mirages? Or was that strictly a definition of hallucination in the desert after being severely dehydrated? I had a sudden urge to google it.

Elphaba had been talking through my train of thought and I hadn't heard a word of it. So it surprised me when she said, "Shanny? Are you listening to me?"

"Now I am," I said, quickening my pace even more, now that I was sure it was the car and not an illusion. Elphaba hissed and I slowed down just enough so that I didn't jostle her.

"What is in your bag?" she continued with her question.

Oh.

That.

Right.

It didn't occur to me that since Elphaba was on my back, she would feel the object on my back. Go figure, eh?

Suddenly something hit me.

"Elphaba, did you recognize the book that ass was waving in front of you?" I let her down next to the car door- she seemed much steadier on her feet now, only a couple of winces giving her away. At least she didn't look like she was going to keel over any second.

She looked at me for a second, "It… I read something once about a magical book. It-" she was really hesitant, "It may have been that."

I looked at her with excitement and she stared at me as if I'd grown a dragon's head. Or Dragon's head. I wasn't really sure which. "Are you daft?" I asked suddenly and she looked at me skeptically,

"Daft? Is that even a word?"

I rolled my eyes, "Oh shut up! You can do magic Elphie!"

Eyes narrowed and she didn't meet the revelation with as much eagerness as I did. Quite the opposite in fact,

"What? Where'd you hear that?" Of all things she was suspicious- probably thinking that I was pulling her leg.

It bothered me that she didn't take me seriously, "Weren't you listening to those morons' conversation?"

My question was met with silence. So if she hadn't been listening, what had she been doing? I gave her the shorter, more sophisticated version of their conversation, "Some magical dude wants those morons to kidnap you and bring you back to Oz so that he can exploit your magical talent."

"And this is what qualifies as good news for you?"

I figured that the words 'kidnap' and 'exploit' wouldn't regularly fall under the normal definition of 'good news'. "Elphie," I started, realizing that she couldn't read my mind- sometimes I just assumed people could. "This means that you can use the book to find a spell that'll take you and Fiyero and Glinda home!"

"But- I don't know what to do,"

"Of course you do."

She glared at me, "I really think I don't."

"Look at the book Elphie- you can read it-"

"So can you," she pointed out but I squashed that line of conversation with,

"Yeah, but you can do magic! I can't!"

Why oh _why_ wasn't she as excited as I was?

Elphaba was shaking her head, biting back a laugh, "This is absolutely absurd!"

"It's absolutely brilliant!"

"You've misplaced your head," she said seriously and I glared at her,

"Elphie, why don't you want to at least try? How else did you get here if you didn't use magic? If it might get you back home, back to Shiz, isn't it worth the try?" I reasoned. She stayed silent for a moment before snapping,

"Don't call me Elphie," and I felt myself flying at her. Why did she do that? Why was it every time things didn't go her way she was determined to alienate everyone around her? It was like she was trying to be an alien.

I tackled her to the ground and she recovered immediately, beginning to defend herself, "Get off me!" she yelled, thrashing and scratching.

"You selfish fiend!" I shouted melodramatically. The funny thing was that somewhere deep down I knew just how much I was overreacting. Pinning her hands down for a moment I was about to continue my speech before she kicked me in the back with her foot, sending me crashing into her.

She hit me in the mouth with her fist accidentally, the force of the blow doubled because of my forward momentum. It took me a second to get my bearings straight as I fell onto my back and I jumped to my feet, struggling to see through the tears in my eyes,

"I see your legs are feeling better," I growled, just about to jump on her again when I was jerked backwards. Someone was holding me back by the shirt and their arms wrapped around me awkwardly,

"Whoa!" I heard and I looked up to see Elphaba struggling on the ground against gross blonde guy. This meant that gross obesity was touching me.

Ew.

"Let go!" I yelled, fighting him with everything I had. He seemed surprised by my ferocity, but overcame it quickly, twisting my arm behind me and momentarily immobilizing me.

"As much as I'd love to watch you two girls' cat-fight," he whispered creepily in my ear and I stopped struggling against him, "We've got orders from the Wizard himself to bring you back unharmed."

The Wizard? The same one Elphaba had been talking against so avidly? I looked over to where she had been, seeing the dirty blonde hauling her to her feet as Elphaba fought against him fearlessly. Even without the full use of her legs, the blonde was finding out just like I had she could still be somewhat of a worthy opponent.

"Elphie," I said softly knowing it was useless and she stopped the windmill motion of her arms. The man took the opportunity to grab her firmly and she stared at me. She looked disappointed that I hadn't tried harder. Casting her eyes downwards, I heard her mutter,

"Perfect." I was about to move to her, perhaps with the intent of violence, when I was reminded that my movement was restricted by a painful tugging on my arm.

"Your fault," I muttered back and she glared at me,

"You attacked me, in case you've forgotten already,"

"You were acting like a self-centered spoil child, in case _you've_ forgotten already," I shot back and the goon hit me in the head,

"Shut-up!" he said. Truth be told, he did sound a little confused as to why we were bickering. I guess his little mind couldn't fathom their prisoner and her rescuer not being on good terms at the moment.

"Tell her that," I muttered and we moved back to their small camp in relative silence.

**A/N: Yes, they got caught again, because they were fighting. They'll stop soon, I promise! **

**So I have about half of this story already written up and there'll be updates every one or two days cause I don't like holding chapters hostage for reviews, and I'm sick of asking for reviews when I don't get any anyways. Haha, it's like I'm writing up a little temper tantrum for myself. I'm not, by the way ;) Anyways, I'll post all the chapters I've got, take a hiatus, finish the story, and post all of those chapters. **

**Oh, and if anyone knows Spanish and is willing to translate for me, can you pm me? I'm writing another story and I'm horrible at language… and as warning it'll basically be a bunch of swearing and bad mouthing, so yeah… **

**  
Y'all have a good summer!!**


	15. The Great Escape Take Two

1

_1.15 The Great Escape… Take Two_

These guys were idiots, really.

Did they not realize the knife I had snuggled comfortably against the sock in my shoe when they tied my feet together?

And did they not realize that tying my hands to my feet would allow me easy access to said knife?

They probably hadn't, but it didn't stop me from berating them for it.

I felt eyes on me and I turned my head to see Elphaba was glaring at me- I returned the look without hesitation.

What frustrated me the most about her was that every time something happened that wasn't to her liking she withdrew and put up her guard. Put up those walls that seemed impossible to penetrate, that just made you want to scream and punch her. Unfortunately I wasn't very good at controlling those urges.

I didn't know how Glinda and Fiyero stood it.

I winced, remembering them. I could just imagine the disastrous state my house would be in if we managed to get away- when, I corrected myself, when we managed to get away.

My voice assuring them we would be back in no time floated back to me. And now both Elphaba and I were tied up, our two idiots keeping a much closer watch. Although…

I moved myself a little bit, shifting my weight so that I was shielding my hands and feet from them with my body. Elphaba looked at me curiously, trying to figure out what I was doing. Like hell I was going to tell her.

Resisting the urge to mouth, "Trust me," I ignored her.

I saw her chewing on her gag for a couple seconds and I knew the fabric must have been irritating her beyond belief. Apparently the two goons were out to make Elphaba's life miserable, and although they didn't physically harm her, they seemed to focus all their energy on tormenting her, leaving me to myself.

I removed my shoe with my fingers, slowly so I wouldn't bring any attention to myself. The look of concentration on my face was compelling Elphaba's curiosity and I felt her annoying stare once again.

"Haven't you ever heard that curiosity killed the cat?" I hissed. The goons didn't bother to even glance at the statement and Elphaba looked properly insulted; I could tell she wasn't used to my wording.

It did the trick however, and she looked away from me clearly cross.

Now she was going to be punishing me by ignoring me.

I hoped that I hadn't offended her enough to refuse escaping with me, but I figured I could deal with that when it happened.

The knife fell out onto the ground, so quiet I could barely hear it. I looked to make sure that the idiot boys were occupied with feeling manly by poking the fire with big sticks, and I strained to reach the warm metal.

It took some maneuvering, but after a couple minutes I had the gratifying smooth handle of the steel blade in my palm.

Looking once again to see that the morons were still amusing themselves by poking the fire, I opened the blade, hoping it didn't make too much noise.

I saw Elphaba almost break and turn her head towards me, but she remained stubborn as ever, despite the unnatural sound she obviously heard. I rolled my eyes.

Seriously.

Cutting the rope proved to be easier than I thought it would be and it didn't take long for my wrists to be free. Not wanting to do anything conspicuous, I kept them behind me, setting to work on my ankles.

I heard goon laughing and immediately stopped. They were standing not ten feet away and I cursed myself for being so inattentive. It was pointless as they had eyes only for Elphaba.

They were holding the stick that was burning white hot and I realized that it hadn't been a wooden branch they were poking the fire with. They'd been heating up the rod of metal. And they were heading towards Elphaba with it.

"You think she's immune to burns?" one of them asked, grinning cruelly.

I started sawing the rope harder.

Obese shook his head, grinning wickedly, "I'm not sure. Why don't we find out?"

They were almost at her and she'd shrunk into the tree in fear. I didn't blame her one bit. These guys were clinically insane.

One last hack at the rope cut both it and a sizable gash into the ball of my ankle and I hissed in pain as I got up and launched myself towards them. They didn't hear me coming for whatever reason- probably too caught up in whatever warped fantasy currently entertained their minds.

The knife in my hand transferred mysteriously into the back of obese, who was holding the metal rod. He gasped and fell over, too shocked by the surprise attack to move. He was probably focusing on breathing as well. I turned to the other who was just as surprised at my sudden freedom, kicking him in the face. He fell onto his back, which cracked ominously as it hit the ground.

Knowing my attack wouldn't keep them at bay I quickly set to work on Elphaba, pushing her head forward.

I let the gag fall away from her face for the second time that night.

"Are you going to leave me here for them for when they wake up?" Elphaba said with her head held high. What a proud nutcase.

"I should leave you behind," I said quietly, seeing the disappointment flash in her eyes. There was a hint of something more- was it sadness? I walked behind her and saw her head drop a little.

She tensed when I took her hands, clearly not expecting it. I untied the bonds quickly, not really wanting to extract my knife from the currently not-all-that-here goon, "I _should_ leave you Elphie," I said softly, "But I don't want to."

"But you attacked me," she reasoned, "Why are you helping me?"

This was really getting annoying, and I finally snapped,

"Because you're my friend, and even though you can be unreasonably stubborn at times, you're still Elphie. In the past 48 hours you've managed to do what people who've known me for ten years haven't been able to do and make me care about you for some ungodly reason, despite and no matter how bigheaded you act some times. So just give up and accept it." I was breathing hard at the end of my outburst, more than a little surprised.

Oh well, maybe that would finally get through her incredibly thick skull. Whether it did or didn't I wasn't sure- I held my hand out for her to hold on to when she stood up. She looked at it apprehensively,

"Oh, come on," I snapped in good nature, "I don't want to carry you again- you're a little on the heavy side after a while. And I'm sure they'll be up soon," I nodded towards the two disgraces to humanity, who were in fact beginning to regain their senses.

She smiled after what felt like an eternity. It probably felt that long to me because I knew our time was limited, "You should wear one of Glinda's ball gowns-" she said, the edges of her mouth lifting slightly, "And then we'll see which you complain more about."

**A/N: I know that in SoW, the undermayor (I think) uses the phrase 'cat caught your tongue' to some extent, but for the sake of this fic, sayings like that are weird and no one uses them in Oz. **


	16. The Irish Bastard

A/N: There may be the... excessive use of the word 'bastard'.

_1.16 The Irish Bastard_

"That Irish bastard- he left y'know. Never came back. Well, the first time he did- left almost right after though. Left me with a little baby girl and I didn't know what to do with her. Oh I've given her more than enough love and she'll always be my baby but I'll never know whose she really is. He left, you see, gone away, blown away with the wind; whatever direction the wind happened to blew I guess. And he left his little girl all alone with me so that I could protect her. The going got tough and he got going, typical male bastard. You're not a bastard like that lovely, are you?" she asked while looping an arm around Fiyero's neck.

Fiyero on his behalf did look very cautious as he said, "No ma'am," extremely confused as to what they were talking about. The deranged lady had been rambling for over half an hour, about the same thing. He still didn't know what she was talking about. Or more specifically, who she was talking about. And why it warranted such an excessive use of the word 'bastard'.

"Good. Women deserve better than abandonment, even if he was a little loopy bastard-" she cut herself off, gasping hugely, "Oh no!"

"What is it?" Fiyero asked, delicately taking her hand and pulling her arm off of his shoulders. It seemed to be there an awful lot and it was making him uncomfortable. The product of the first batch of cupcake they'd made was a tragically horrific mess of liquid and soap bubbles- he honestly didn't know why there were soap bubbles in it, but there were, and now they were on the second set.

Mrs. Domine's voice lowered to a whisper, her eyes as wide as saucers. Fiyero could see that her pupils were dilated despite the ample lighting in the kitchen. "Don't tell 'handi I told you so, okay? She'll get really, really upset. And mad. I don't like it when she's mad…" she trialed off, her eyes glazing over.

"I- I won't," he said quickly, afraid she would begin to cry. It was in vain and she let out a huge sob at the same time Glinda dropped a glass bowl to the ground; Glinda screamed and Mrs. Domine jumped.

The thing shattered into what must have been at least a thousand pieces and Fiyero glared at her, "Glinda!"

"Sorry!" she squeaked, holding her hands together and against her chest. "I'm so sorry! It slipped!"

"Oh, don't give it a second thought," Mrs. Domine dismissed, heading to the counter, her tears forgotten; "Just use another one." Glinda stayed where she was, looking down at the floor guiltily.

"Shouldn't we clean this up?" Fiyero asked, gesturing to the mess on the floor, very aware that Shandra had strictly told them _not _to make a mess.

"Nah, we'll get that one latero!"

"Shanny won't mind?" Glinda asked apprehensively, apparently thinking the same thing Fiyero had going through his head. He had a feeling Shandra wouldn't be too impressed with them when she got home.

Shandra quickly left his thoughts though, as her mother was cracking eggs over the sink, dropping the actual egg into the sink and placing the shells into their 'batter'. He caught the second egg and corrected her silently while she rambled on about who knew what,

"Shanny- that's a pretty name," the lady said dreamily in conclusion. Glinda nodded bubbly,

"Isn't it though?"

Fiyero started fishing the egg shells out of the sticky batter.

Her expression instantly changed to one of anger, "Do you know how many damn times I've caught that damn child kicking around that damn ball inside of this house? It's almost positive that she's broken everything glass made that was or is here in this house!"

Fiyero was beginning to think that this lady had serious mental health issues. Her mood swings were completely arbitrary, even if she was extremely intoxicated.

Unless she was pregnant; Fiyero averted his eyes from the lady's midsection, where they'd drifted the moment the thought entered his mind. It couldn't be that.

"Did you know my girl could've been on the provincial team?" Fiyero shook his head mutely not wanting to provoke a more intense emotion- sentimental seemed to be the best choice out of what he'd seen so far. "The things she could do with that little black and white soccer ball," Mrs. Domine muttered, shaking her head and trying to add soap to the bowl, "Amazing… I want to wash the strawberries!" she finally snapped at Fiyero who was engaged in a tug of war with her over the bowl.

She loosening her grip accidentally and he took the opportunity to take the bowl away, "Glinda'll do it," he offered, ignoring Glinda's questioning mew and shoving the bowl at her, "How about you go upstairs and take a nap or something? I'll take you-" just as he was steering her out of the kitchen door, she snapped to life,

"But we've got to make cupcakes," she protested and Fiyero sighed,

"Glinda and I would be more then happy to finish up here," he insisted and Glinda hissed,

"I don't know what I'm doing Fiyero!" from the sink, running the water over the strawberries without looking; the water was running aimlessly three inches away from the bowl.

Mrs. Domine said, "No-sense. This is my home-"

"But I insist," Fiyero said firmly, turning her around and nearly pushing her out of the messy kitchen. Redirecting her before she left through the front door, he watched carefully as she navigated the staircase, climbing it falteringly and with a firm grip on the handrail. She grumbled the whole way up.

"Is she gone?" Glinda whispered and Fiyero turned around to see her head poking around a corner, a little saddened he'd banished her playmate.

Fiyero nodded and they heard sounds in the front drive, "Is that-"

"They're back!" Glinda squealed, running past Fiyero and out the door before he could catch her- so he followed her out.


	17. Disney

_1.17 Disney_

"So I've been thinking," I said as I helped Elphaba out of the car.

As I had presumed earlier, the fact that the car was the fastest way to get back home had prevailed over Elphaba's intense dislike for the machine. It only took a couple minutes of coaxing to make her see the light- which was good, because it was getting pretty bright out and I was sure the goons would be up and at 'em as soon as they could.

"So I've been thinking," I said again and Elphaba looked at me with amusement,

"So I've heard."

I gave her a smarmy smile, "And I decided that I'm going to let you keep the book."

Instantly her face fell, "I don't want the damned book," she growled and I felt myself resisting the urge to hit her,

"Elphie-"

"Don't," she started and I cut her off,

"Nimrod, if you plan to fight this Wizard, then you're going to have to take the book with you. Obviously it's really important to him- either that or he doesn't want you to have it."

"I'm not taking that book," Elphaba insisted and I closed my eyes. Suddenly I was attacked from behind and I jumped surprised. My arms were pinned to my side and I opened my eyes to see Fiyero hugging Elphaba in a tight embrace. I turned around to see who was behind me.

"Oh Shanny," Glinda cried, hugging me tightly and placing her head delicately on my shoulder, "We were so worried about you two!"

"Uh… thanks?" I said, patting Glinda awkwardly on the back as she squeezed. She removed herself from me and skillfully snubbed Fiyero out of the way so she could get her turn with Elphaba. I watched them and smiled- Glinda really did care a lot about Elphaba, and it was a good thing. I got the distinct impression that Elphaba didn't have many people who cared about her.

"It's good to see you," Fiyero said, hugging me for a couple seconds before letting go. "What took so long?"

I caught Elphaba's eye,

"We needed to wait around for them to fall asleep before we could get the book back," I said, "That's why it took so long."

I wasn't lying. Technically.

"ShhhhAAANdra!"

The high shrill pierced through the air and I winced. Oh, God, please not now.

"Who is that?" I heard Elphaba ask. I was about to answer when I heard Fiyero say,

"That's Mrs Domine, Shanny's Mother,"

"She's fantastical Elphie!" Glinda added, "We baked cupcakes!" I looked over at the blonde Elphaba had pushed away the second she started talking- and she was bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet. Waving my Mother over to join us.

What on Earth was going on here? Cupcakes? Fantastical? Was this the same person we were talking about?

My Mother was already heading towards us and there was nothing I could do to stop her. I turned to Fiyero, "I thought I told you to not go upstairs," I hissed, a little hurt that they would snoop around somewhere I specifically told them numerous times not to.

"But she's the one who came downstairs," Fiyero said, defending himself, "What were we supposed to do?"

I put my head in my hands and tried not to sink to the ground- this was so not good.

"Shanny," Glinda asked and I reluctantly looked up when she didn't immediately continue, "Who's Cinderella?"

Oh God.

"Never mind," I mumbled, not in the mood. I turned around just in time to be engulfed in yet another hug- or rather, right in time to catch my Mother as she tripped over her own feet-

"Thank you sweetheart," she said, stroking my hair. I tried to squirm away from her but she'd firmly latched onto my arm, "You never ever told me you had friend's over." I tried to see if she was angry but she was more giddy then anything else.

I shrugged. I didn't want to say that was because she hadn't seen me in two days and I would have gladly told her about it had she not been holed up upstairs in her room, doing God knows what. Her less then lucid eyes traveled to Elphaba,

"Oh, you're green!" she exclaimed and Elphaba narrowed her eyes. Even I knew that the best way to have a bad first impression with Elphaba was to point out her color. I decided this would be a good time to change to another subject,

"Have you met Fiyero and Glinda already?" I asked. The two of them looked at me oddly but my Mother remained oblivious,

"Oh, they are just the sweetest things in the world, they are!" she gushed, finally letting me go and moving to Fiyero who was standing by Elphaba, "Aren't you? They helped me bake cupcakes," she giggled.

I stared at her.

She must have gotten a hold of some uppers or something.

"They're really good," Glinda contributed, nodding eagerly. Fiyero ogled at her.

"Then how about we go get some?" I suggested, trying to pry Mother off of Fiyero who was now holding onto Elphaba's wrist. She wasn't letting go however, so I just ended up dragging the three of them behind me on my way to the house.

"I love those arches," Glinda commented, following behind us and pointing to the arches that decorated the front of my house. She started humming.

My life was quickly turning into an abnormally buoyant fever dream that was trying to (badly) impersonate Disney.


	18. Restless

1

_1.18 Restless_

I got out of the bed as silently as I could, Fiyero's bright eyes piercing me through the darkness. Feeling he was going to say something about my being awake once again in the middle of the night I headed him off, "I can't sleep."

"Why not?" he whispered, sitting up and letting the thin blanket fall off his bare chest. We'd long since run out of a change of clothes and while Glinda and I opted for our slips, Fiyero had disregarded the entire concept of a nightshirt.

I indicated the sleeping figure of Glinda behind me, hoping it would give me a reason not to answer him. Glinda as if on cue snored softly and turned around, murmuring something eligible, making my excuse completely moot.

"What's wrong?" Fiyero prodded and I walked past him to the window bench I was starting to get attached to. I decided that if I ever had my own house, I'd want a spot like this where I could sit by the glass panes and look at the outdoors. "Fae," Fiyero whispered, ever insistent.

"What?" I asked, sighing. I didn't mean to be rude but I really wasn't in the mood. He stood up and walked over to me, sitting down on the bench beside me. I ignored him, watching as the grass shimmered in the moonlight.

"You're- you're shivering," he muttered a little concerned. I was in fact shivering a little, the cool night air penetrating my slip easily.

"It's nothing," I dismissed as he was wearing even less than I but he retrieved his blanket regardless, draping it over my folded legs. "Thank you," I muttered, a little grudgingly. The gesture was sweet but I didn't need to be doted upon. He sat down across from me with his legs crossed, leaning back against the opposite wall,

"It's different here," he said and I nodded, cutting to the point,

"What were you going to say before?"

Fiyero raised his eyebrows at the blunt question but I didn't back down. Finally, he sighed, "That you're being bothered by something. I can see it."

"It's not important," I dismissed, returning my focus to the outside. It looked peaceful out there and I was hoping the image would lull me to sleep. Nature always did have a strange effect on me and I missed the beauty of uncivilized land. "What?" I snapped without looking at him, realizing from the corner of my eye that Fiyero had been staring at me for the past couple minutes.

"Nothing," he grinned, shifting his focus to match mine. It didn't take long for his gaze to drift back to me,

"I won't hesitate to harm you if you don't stop that," I threatened and he sighed,

"What's the matter Fae? You're bothered and I want to know why."

It occurred to me that my sister had used to say the same thing. She could usually pick up when I was ill at ease and when it suited her she'd inquire about it, almost word for word as Fiyero had. But she rarely had the sincerity that Fiyero had in his voice. "Why?" I asked suspiciously and he frowned,

"Do I need a reason?"

"Yes," I answered stiffly.

His nose wrinkled, "Because then at the very least you'll go back bed instead of keeping me awake."

"I didn't ask you to stay up with me Fiyero," I snapped. I'd seen his smile but I wasn't in the mood for games. He seemed a little taken back and I stood up holding out his blanket, "Thank you for your concern, but I think I'll go downstairs where I won't disrupt anyone's sleep."

I padded across the floor and opened the door, hearing Fiyero trying to call me back. I wasn't quite sure why I'd snapped like that at him but I didn't want to think about it. The whole ordeal with the book was bothering me and what disturbed me the most was my ability to do magic.

I'd never been interested in learning magic- that was Glinda's calling. It disturbed me that I had moved the three of us such a distance- and I wasn't even sure where Earth was in relation to Oz. It seemed very far away- Shandra's civilization appeared to be much more advanced then ours. And I hadn't even consciously wanted to do it.

Thinking back, it occurred to me how angry I'd been. What if I got riled up like that again? The goons had certainly frightened me more than I cared to admit, but nothing had happened. Which led to the question- why had it happened in the first place? And when would it happen again?

I walked down the stairs, not really have a clear destination. I knew that Shandra's house had two separate second levels and I didn't very much want to climb the stairs to be confronted with her mother. The women made me extremely uncomfortable.


	19. The Way Out

1

_1.19 The Way Out_

Someone was moving around in the dark and I strained my eyes to try to see them. Whoever was tall and lanky and I immediately recognized the figure as Elphaba. Glinda was smaller and Fiyero was more built.

"Elphaba," I called, smirking when I saw her freeze. She turned around slowly and I could tell that I had scared her,

"Hello?"

"Lights on your left," I offered and I watched as her hand swiped at the wall. The now gleaming kitchen was suddenly filled with bright fluorescent light. "You guys cleaned up really well in here," I muttered, "Thanks."

"Glinda and Fiyero were partially responsible for the mess," she deflected, "So it was only fair that we clean up the kitchen."

"I would've helped if you just waited a little while longer," I pointed out. The kitchen had been a complete disaster zone and they'd cleaned it up by they time I managed to get my mother to bed. Once she was safely tucked away she was out like a light, and probably would be for the next couple days.

Elphaba sat down on the chair across from my seat on the counter, "You were taking care of your mother- it's really alright."

I felt my cheeks flush, "I'm sorry about that. Her. She doesn't mean any harm but she just… gets like this sometimes," I shifted uncomfortably at the omission and to my surprise Elphaba didn't look at all disappointed or disgusted.

"I understand," she said with reassuring smile.

"Really?" I asked dubiously and the smile gave way to a much darker look,

"I realize that the three of us are fairly colorful on our own, but not everyone in Oz is like Fiyero, Glinda or I. Certainly no one there is green. I'm an anomaly, a mistake that my father wouldn't allow twice in a row," she explained with a stony face and I cringed at the thought of growing up in that kind of environment. "Unfortunately for my mother he was increasingly overbearing to make sure their next child didn't turn out… verdant."

"Do you blame yourself?" I asked softly, not looking at her. My gaze had wandered to the floor and I didn't bother looking up at her. I didn't want her to know that I was asking myself the same question for my situation.

Thankfully Elphaba didn't look at me. "Glinda told me once it wasn't my fault- that it was my fathers. That even though I believe it… it is my fault, didn't make it true."

"But you can't bring yourself to believe her," I finished softly and I didn't have to see her to know she agreed. I know how it was to feel like you were always doing something wrong. It didn't matter what, insignificant or significant, but you were always doing something wrong. Messing up somehow, never being able to make them proud.

Before I knew what I was saying, I was talking, "I never knew my dad. And I don't know much about him. He lived in the States- the United States of America. That's just south of here. In Omaha, I think. That's in the east of the country, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean," I explained, not really sure why. It wasn't like geography was important at the moment anyways, "I don't know. I don't _care_. Except," I hesitated, not sure how much I was comfortable with sharing.

Whenever I was asked about it or felt obligated to share my feelings, I always left the conversation at a bitter 'I don't care'.

But the thing was, I sort of did care. I just didn't want anyone else to know that.

Elphaba didn't prompt me, and I didn't want to look at her; I didn't want to know if she was getting uncomfortable with the conversation because I desperately needed to have this conversation with someone… Maybe that was why my homeroom teacher had wanted to get me to talk to the school counselor.

"Except I want to know about him," I said. Elphaba made no move to stop me so I continued on, "I want to know why he left me, us, why he disappeared. Half of me want to be pissed off at him because he didn't give a shit and the other half of me wants to know why." My voice softened, "I mean, what if he had a good reason? What if… he had to or something?" I could feel my eyes beginning to burn but refused to cry. "What if he didn't have any other choice?"

There was silence between us. I realized how good it felt to get that out of me. I slide off the counter, trying to get rid of the pit in my chest. "Why did you come down here anyway?" I asked, fed up with being nostalgic.

Elphaba shifted in her seat, turning away from me slightly, "I was too restless to sleep so I decided to take a short walk,"

"Which reminds me-" I snapped my fingers, "I think I found a spell in the Grimmerie thing to get you back home…"

"How did what I say… remind you of that?"

I shrugged, "You had to be restless for a reason, right? And what better reason to be restless than to be worrying about how to get home? Ergo… I don't know," I finished lamely, ignoring the look she was giving to me.

"How do you know it's the one?" Elphaba asked and I opened the book, flipping it to the appropriate page.

I pointed to the spell, "Read it. Silently," I added, not too crazy about Elphaba teleporting us somewhere accidentally. "It seems to be what'll do the trick, right?"

Elphaba read for a full five minutes before nodding, "It'll probably be the best chance we have. How did you find it?"

"I was just flipping through it and it caught my eye," I shrugged. "The description seemed to fit what you want to do."

Silence fell as Elphaba stared at the book and I stared at her. I knew what this meant but I wasn't sure why my stomach felt so flip-floppy. It meant that the three of them would be leaving, and that was a little sad but it was bound to happen eventually. They all had lives that they needed to go back to in Oz and I had… I needed to stay here. A little selfishly I wanted them to stay as well so that we could get to know each other better.

As pathetic as it sounded, they were the closest friends that I had had in a long time.

And I didn't want to lose them.


	20. I Guess This Is Goodbye

_1.20 I Guess This Is Goodbye…_

"I guess this is it," I said softly, shifting from foot to foot nervously. I honestly had no idea how to act, what I was supposed to do, or what I wasn't supposed to do. I didn't want them to leave; despite our short time together I felt closer to them than the kids I'd been going to school with since elementary.

Glinda solved that problem for me and jumped on me, "I'm going to miss you Shanny!" she cried, squeezing the life out of me.

I would have replied in kind, but I found it very difficult to breath. When she finally released me Fiyero was there, hugging me tentatively,

"It was nice to meet you Shandra," he said a little stiffly,

"Likewise, Fiyero," I smiled. I turned to Elphaba, who didn't make any moves embrace me. I was fine with that and I heard myself say, "Good-bye."

She nodded and we held each others eyes and I didn't know why I felt like I was about to lose someone really close to me. I shrugged the feeling off- it was probably just because she'd saved my life.

--

"Good-bye Shanny," I said softly after a second, the heavy book in my hands reminding that we couldn't stand there forever. She nodded her head; an inexplicable sense of loss came over me and I couldn't explain its origin.

Pushing my perplexity away I instructed Glinda and Fiyero to take hold of me somehow. Shandra took a couple steps back.

"This probably won't work," I warned, wondering how I was supposed to do it. Was there some special stance I had to assume? I skimmed through the page, looking for any specific instructions.

There was nothing.

"Ready?" I asked, and Fiyero put his arm around my waist. I stiffened before I remembered that I asked him to do so. Glinda put her hand on daintily on my elbow. "I hope I bring you two along," I said before muttered the spell.

I looked up at Shanny and we stared at each other for a moment.

Just as she opened her mouth to say something a quick, sudden cold compression encased my entire body. Even though I wasn't claustrophobic, the feeling was unpleasant and slightly suffocating. I closed my eyes wincing and my ears popped. I felt something tug on my stomach and I gasped- it started to drain my energy as it pulled and I was finding it increasingly difficult to take a full breathe.

The string that had been pulling my stomach skywards snapped suddenly; seconds later the compression washed away with the most unsettling sensation. My ears popped once again and I opened my eyes.

The first thing I saw was the distinctive stone wall of Shiz directly in the space in front of me.

I was uncomfortable with the fact that I was capable of doing magic. It was Glinda's thing, not mine. But I was definitely home.

Now it was a matter of who else had come home with me.

A wave of exhaustion came over me and I for a second I felt like I was going to faint. I was expecting the fatigue, and was a little surprised that it wasn't worse. I'd read that heavy magic use often times leaves the caster physically and mentally drained. Fiyero's arm wrapped around my waist once again and I leaned into him, wavering slightly.

"I'm fine, Fiyero," I blushed at his attention and noticing Glinda wasn't where she'd originally been, in front of me. Suddenly I was worried that I'd lost her somewhere along the way- wherever the 'way' was.

"Elphie…"

I knew that voice, and it wasn't Glinda…

I turned around to see Shandra standing beside Glinda, and for the first time I experienced what others must feel when they see me and my green skin for the first time. Shandra did look extremely calm however, as she held up her hand to the midday sun, feeling it experimentally,

"Elphie," she said again, this time following with her question. One, unfortunately, I had no answer to,

"Why am I blue?"

**A/N: So just in case you didn't know, I posted two chapters at a time, so some people may have missed chapter 18. **


	21. Shiz

_2.1 Shiz_

I was the color of Glinda's ball gown.

No kidding, sans sparkles, the exact same goalie-crease shade of light blue.

It was actually kind of cool once you got over the shock.

Which, judging by the way my three newfound friends were gawking at me, they hadn't.

Then Glinda broke the silence by saying, "Oh Oz, have you always been blue?"

"Have you always been blonde?" I asked. I saw Elphaba raise her eyebrows.

"Yes," Glinda said, not catching my failed attempt to mock her. Instead she took a step forward, touching my cheek apprehensively, "It's beautiful," she whispered, "In an odd, quirky way. Just like Elphaba's. Unique." I saw Elphaba blush from the corner of my eye and it was the first time I realized how much I loved this blonde girl.

"So have you always been blue?" Fiyero asked, keeping his distance, confused by my comment.

I shook my head and Elphaba looked down into her book, "I must have done something wrong-" she mumbled, shuffling away from us. I left Glinda and took the book away from Elphaba before she had the chance to get too far away from me,

"Hey," I said softly and she looked at me, guilt-ridden.

"I'm so sorry…" she tried to get the book back but I kept it out of her reach,

"Elphie look at me."

It took a second but soon Elphaba raised her earthy eyes to meet mine. Through the torment in her eyes I could see she blamed herself for my coloring and even if it was her fault, I didn't want her to have to carry that around.

Maybe I was reminiscing my 'punk' phase, but I kind of liked the blue.

"You're home, aren't you?" I said and she nodded hesitantly, "Well, then there's no hard feelings. Personally, I think it reflects my personality," I grinned.

"I'm sorry," she said again and I shook my head,

"Why do you keep saying that?" I asked softly. I think it was the first time I'd heard her say she was sorry. To anyone.

"Because I…" she was hesitant, "Because I know how it feels to be… different like that. I wouldn't want-"

"Miss Elphaba!" She stopped in the middle of her sentence.

I think I scared her a little with that one. I toned it down a little for, "Don't worry about me, I… I don't mind it," I didn't know if I was saying it for her benefit or if it was the truth. I wasn't quite… sure yet.

"But-"

"No," I said sternly, "You have nothing to be sorry for if I've already forgiven you."

Elphaba looked up cautiously, "Alright then."

"Good."

"I'll get you to your home somehow," she promised and I held her gaze, saying softly,

"I know you will."

"Shanny," Glinda said after a moment, making herself known now that our little heart-to-heart was over. I looked over at her,

"Yeah?"

"I do believe you attire is quite inappropriate for our current location," she sniffed. I stared at her for a second and wondered if she was thinking about what I'd said to her before me and Elphaba had left for the woods. I looked down at the zip-up hoodie, Elmo t-shirt and black sweats I had donned that morning.

Slightly panicked, I realized that everyone in Oz must dress like them- out of a classic fairytale.

"I don't have to wear a dress, do I?" I asked, my stomach plunging as Glinda smiled.

"You'd look pretty in a dress," Fiyero offered, flashing me a quick apologetic smile for his aloof behavior.

"Thank you. So would you."

Elphaba grinned slightly, exhaling like she was planning to laugh and Fiyero smiled. Glinda stared at me for a second, finally saying in a slightly disgusted tone, "But Fiyero is a _boy_."

"I know Glin," I said innocently and she eyed me suspiciously. Maybe she was catching on to this whole sarcasm thing after all. "Where are we off to now?" I praying I didn't sound too hopeful as I changed the subject.

"Shiz."

"And where exactly is Shiz, Elphie?" I asked a little irritated.

She pointed behind me and I turned to see a great vine-covered wall not 100 yards away. "Oh," I said softly, "Alright then."

**A/N: This is for **EriksfavoritePhan**... because they asked.  
**


	22. Madame Morrible

**A/N: POV changes a lot. **

_2.2 Madame Morrible_

Getting Shandra into Shiz was a little more difficult than anyone anticipated.

First off, there was her clothing, which Glinda so kindly noted stuck out like a white rose among red.

Second, she was blue. I was green. Fiyero was Vinkus and Glinda was Gilliknese. All we were missing in that department was a damn Tiger juggling Hedgehogs.

Thirdly, Fiyero wasn't technically allowed into the girls dormitories, although the rule was often broken by everyone.

I didn't think we really needed a fourth one, although I was confident I'd be able to think of one if I tried hard enough.

Well actually, the fourth didn't take much thought at all. I knew Nessarose would be around somewhere and I sorely hoped that we didn't run into her. It would then become a problem worthy of first place. Not that I didn't love Nessarose. But if I saw her, I knew guilt would take over and I would cave- something that really wasn't necessary at the moment.

In short, it was been a nightmare.

Everyone stared at us.

And for the first time in my life, I knew it wasn't just at me. Fiyero had taken off his over shirt and thrown it at Shandra, who caught it thankfully and pulled it on. Her odd pants were still visible under the cotton, but at least she was less noticeable. She did seem to be taking everything relatively well however, having smiled at all the gaping faces, even waved at the particularly obvious.

Once we got into the girls building there were less people around to gawk at us. It didn't make me any the less nervous because I knew that the sudden disappearance to the Emerald City would have left my dear sister in a rage. I also felt a little guilty at leaving her so unexpectedly. All of my life I'd been caring for Nessa and I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd abandoned her.

As we walked up the stairs to the second level where our room was located, Shandra tripped. Up the stairs, of all things. I didn't quite understand how she had managed to accomplish it, but I was knocked backwards because of her. I felt Fiyero's hand on the small of my back preventing me from falling and Glinda was far enough back to remain unaffected. I muttered my thanks to Fiyero, blushing slightly,

"My pleasure," he smiled, his eyes lingering on my face for a second more than usual. Glinda cleared her throat and I saw that there was a group of girls trying to get by as we effectively blocked the stairway. I picked Shandra up hurriedly, hoping that the three girls didn't notice anything strange.

"I thought she was gone," one of them whispered, glancing at me.

Another one nodded, "I heard Madame Morrible was looking for her…"

I didn't hear any more as we went our separate ways. I had a feeling we wouldn't be able to stay here for much longer.

Now Fiyero and I sat on my bed, watching Shandra paw through the clothes in Glinda's closet, her nose wrinkled in disgust.

--

"Doesn't Elphaba have anything I could wear?" I pouted, shifting through all the dresses in Glinda's closet. I pulled my hand away, blowing at the layer of sparkles that seemed to have accumulated from just touching them.

Glinda shook her head, "You don't want to wear anything Elphie owns," she said confidently. Elphaba raised her eyebrow, "No offense, Elphie, but you don't exactly have the best fashion sense."

"I know that Glinda," Elphaba said, smiling slightly, "That's why I keep you around."

"Good. Now," Glinda said, turning to me and I cringed as she placed me firmly on a bed that was definitely hers, "I'm going to dress you up and you're going to wear whatever I give you."

I squirmed a little but Glinda's hands were still on my shoulders, "I didn't make you wear my clothes," I reminded desperately and Glinda sighed,

"Yes, well, there wasn't anyone around us when we were at your home. Now you're here, at Shiz," she gestured around her, "And things are different. You'll be seen in the first two minutes you leave this dorm room,"

"And they can probably see you through the window, too," Elphaba added and after a second Fiyero hastily shut the curtains.

"They can?" Glinda asked, worried and a little disturbed. Elphaba shrugged and Fiyero looked away from Glinda, albeit a little guilty. I bit the inside of my mouth to keep from laughing at the innuendo.

"Well never mind that," Glinda dismissed, turning her attention back to me. I had the sudden urge to run out of the room; I saw Elphaba move towards the door, as if reading my thoughts. "We've got to figure out what to do with you."

I had a feeling I wasn't going to like whatever Glinda came up with.

--

There was a knock on the door and we all looked at each other.

"I'm not supposed to be here," Fiyero said suddenly, getting up from my bed and looking panicked for a moment,

"Neither am I!" Shandra said, pointing to herself, still wearing her 'Earth' clothes, "At least you _go_ to this school!... At least you _look_ like you go to this school!" she corrected, looking around in a panic for anything to throw over her painfully out of place clothing.

There was another knock, more insistent this time and I pulled Shandra behind the door, next to Glinda's closet. "Open it!" I whispered to her and she opened her mouth to protest. "Do it!" I snapped and she looked offended for a second before cracking the door open,

"Hello Miss Glinda, how are you today?"

Hearing that dreadful voice I opened the closet door and shoved Shandra inside of it- "Don't say a word!" I muttered, closing the door as she was in the process of falling, her eyes open in complete surprise. I winced as I heard some banging and the sound of a couple hangers falling.

"I'm doing well, how are you today Madame Morrible?"

"Very-" Glinda's tiny frame was forced back along the ground a little as Morrible pushed the door open more, "Why, Master Fiyero," she said somewhat shocked, "What in Oz's name are you doing here, in the _girls_ dormitories?"

There was a small cough from the closet and I hit the door soundly as a warning.

Hopefully Morrible wouldn't hear that.

All we needed was to get interrogated by the Headmistress as to Shandra's color and purpose in Oz.

That would be a conversation full of questions with no answers.

I turned around to see Glinda at the door somehow managing to keep Morrible from coming in any further, her voice slightly strained from the effort of keeping the door where it was, Fiyero standing back looking properly chastised.

"Elphie?" Glinda called lightly, opening the door some now that she knew Shandra was out of view,

"Yes?" I responded casually,

"Could you come here a moment?" Glinda requested,

"Of course," I replied, speculating if our conversation and mannerisms could get any more awkward. I found myself wondering how much Morrible knew as I walked to the door and greeted her.

"Madame Morrible was just looking for you," Glinda gave me a painfully fake smile and turned to give us some privacy.

"Actually," Morrible said, putting a hand on Glinda's shoulder. I saw Glinda flinch from the touch. "I would like to speak to you with Elphaba in my office, if that's alright."

I opened my mouth to say, 'no, that's not alright', but Glinda interrupted me, "Of course Madame."

I glared at her. She knew just like I did that we didn't have a choice in the matter, but I still wanted to force Morrible to say it. I hated that she could phrase it like a question and get away with it, knowing we would have to accept to be polite.

"Your office is on the first floor?" I asked for Shandra's benefit. Hopefully the sounds I'd heard weren't all of Glinda's dresses falling on top of the poor girl, suffocating her. Death by glitter; that would be an interesting obituary.

"Yes, it is… why do you ask?" Morrible asked, eyeing me with suspicion.

I smiled at her innocently, "I heard talk that your office was getting relocated and I was just wondering if there was any validity in the rumors."

The explanation seemed to satisfy her and Fiyero coughed awkwardly, "I think I'll head back…" he trailed off as he tired to move past Morrible, who stood firmly in the doorway,

"I think you should come with us as well, Master Fiyero," she said sternly and I thought I heard Fiyero gulp, "Your indiscretion will need to be dealt with after all."

Fiyero lowered his head and nodded, "Of course."

Glinda and I looked at each other, confused. Even though it was a rule, it was one of the old ones that didn't really make sense and was for the most part ignored. Even most of the Ama's ignored it, allowing their charges to socialize with the boys in the privacy of their rooms- with the doors opened or unlocked, of course. We knew for a fact that Morrible herself had overlooked it when she encountered Boq in the hallway with us once, heading out to the café.

It seemed unusual that she would want to punish Fiyero.

Unless…

She knew something more? She was more aware of what had happened during our absence than we thought she did?

"Well, Miss Elphaba?" she said expectantly and I walked past her, trying to keep my face neutral. Glinda locked the door and I felt her fall in step beside me, Morrible behind us and Fiyero trailing behind her like a guilty puppy.

There was no way I could ask the questions on my mind without being over heard so I could just walk, praying that Shandra would be alright and would be able to find us…


	23. Alone

_2.3 Alone_

The second I heard the door shut I released the monstrous sneeze that'd been building up ever since Elphaba had pushed me into the closet.

I was really getting sick of getting shoved into things.

The bruise on my elbow- yes, I'd bruised my elbow of all places- from when Elphaba shoved me into the bushes was only just beginning to heal. Granted, she did that to save me… and she probably threw me into the closet with the best of intentions, but…

Jeez. The bottom line was I wanted to stop getting shoved into things. Was that a lot to ask for?

I opened the closet with only minimal difficulties, looking around the empty room before I fully stepped out of it.

Silence engulfed me.

I shifted my weight from foot to foot, wondering why on Earth I felt so awkward when there was no one around me.

And then it hit me.

I wasn't on Earth any more.

No sir-ee, I was in Oz, in Shiz, in Glinda and Elphaba's dormitory room, all alone.

Completely and utterly alone.

"There's no one here beside me…" I said to the empty room and no one responded, proving my statement.

I sighed, lifting my hand up to my hair and wrapping a thin strand of it around my finger. The last thing I remembered hearing was that Fiyero was going to be in trouble… which didn't sound too bad.

But if Morrible wasn't all that bad, why had Elphaba shoved me into a closet rather than introduce me and explain things properly. And why would she be so obvious getting me a location of Morrible's office if there wasn't any danger… did she want me to go get them?

"Elphaba," I moaned to no one, sitting down on her bed.

This was so not going to go well. The sheer magnitude of things that could go wrong was overwhelming.

Why the hell was I here in the first place?

I pulled myself onto the bed fully, leaning back against the pillows, trying to figure out what on Earth Elphaba had wanted me to do. Taking a couple of deep breaths, I noticed my image in the mirror across the room. The image smiled crookedly back- I'd almost forgotten my color.

I didn't look bad with the blue just… different. At first glance you could almost miss it, if you weren't looking too hard. Or maybe that was what I wanted. It was like I had hypothermia or I'd been deprived oxygen- both of which I realized weren't very good things. I wondered why it'd happened- it probably wasn't anything to do with Elphaba's spell- maybe just a side effect of being from Earth? Maybe everyone from Earth was blue here… but then why hadn't _their_ color changed on Earth?

On that note, the cut under my eye was beginning to scab over and I was relieved to see that the blood was still red. I was still wearing my Elmo shirt and I knew that had to go. The red didn't really go with the blue anyways.

I could go one step at a time, couldn't I?

First step- finding some proper clothes to wear.

Deciding right then and there I was going to embrace my coloring, I got up and opened the damn closet I'd been shoved into earlier. It spilled out a dozen or so dresses the second the door opened and I hastily closed it again.

So Glinda's wardrobe was out of commission.

I turned to Elphaba's closet and found myself hesitating before touching the handle. For some reason I didn't think Elphaba would appreciate me snooping through her stuff but I figured I didn't have another choice- if she shoved me into a closet then I was sure as hell going to look through hers.

The door opened with a slight creak and I paused, paranoid that someone was going to come in and discover me.

But then I vaguely remembered hearing Glinda lock the door behind her though, so I plowed on.

It was kind of dreary for a closet, a couple of different drab-looking dresses hanging from hangers, a picture of people I didn't recognize on the inside of the closet door. There were a couple of hardcore looking boots resting on the bottom along with a couple stacks of books reaching to my kneecaps. Behind them were what must have been at least a dozen bottles of something. I picked up one of the bottles and opened it- it smelt like faint coconut or something similar and I replaced it. Moving the dresses aside- they were much more to my liking- I looked to see if there was anything behind them.

There was a hook on the wall with a book bag on it and I figured that was Elphaba's school bag. In a little cubby hole were various schools supplies that reminded me of history class icons- ink, scrolls, etc.

Looking up I noticed that there was a top shelf. There was a pointy hat squashed into it and I took it off without much thought. It was fortunate that I had relatively good reflexes that day because along with the hat came a tumbling glass bottle that looked like it'd been through the years.

For a second I was too scared to move- if the bottle shattered I bet Elphaba wouldn't hesitate to kick my butt good. But it was somehow in my hand and I replaced the hat, turning it around to see the words '_Green Elixir_' on a sticker that was in serious jeopardy of falling or deteriorating off.

I stared at it, wondering what on Earth it could be. I opened the cap tentatively and sniffed- a strong scent that reminded me of my Mother's breath most mornings filled my nostrils and I nearly gagged, quickly recapping it and replacing it on the shelf.

I took out a dress I thought would fit me and that wasn't too elaborate, thinking it best not to snoop more. I didn't want to infringe on Elphaba's privacy, and by the way she had hidden the bottle under the hideous hat I had a feeling she didn't want anyone to know about it.

Changing quickly (and noting that the blue covered my entire body) I took Elphaba's book bag and emptied it out- a jumbled mess of papers came out, all stained with dark ink. I tried to read them but I gave up after only a couple seconds, unable to figure out what any of the words meant. How was it that I could talk their language but I couldn't manage to read a single sentence? It was something I would have to ask Elphaba about later.

Packing my clothes inside of it along with as much fruit as I could fit from a bowl on one of the desks, I picked up Fiyero's bag, put the papers into it beside my book- they did have an odd look of importance about them after all. I found myself looking at the mirror once more.

There was a lot less fabric to the dress than there had been when I was wearing my own clothes, so the blue seemed more prominent. Taking what could only be defined as a traveling cloak from Elphaba's side of the room I wrapped it around my shoulders and clipped the front.

The image was slightly better, and when I raised the hood it fell around my face, shadowing my odd color.

Feeling like the grim reaper I opened the door and stepped out into the hall, ready to attempt the hopeless mission of finding my friends.

Judging by the size of the buildings exterior, knowing I was supposed to look on the first floor would be like knowing I was supposed to look for a sea-shell on the beach.

Someone bumped into me and I mumbled an apology but they didn't look twice.

The only thing I had going for me was that apparently, people in long cloaks with their hoods raised didn't cause any alarm in the halls of this very, very odd school.


	24. The Gale Force

_2.4 The Gale Force_

"Miss Elphaba, Miss Glinda, if you could wait for me in my office…" Madame Morrible opened the door and stepped aside, waiting patiently for Elphaba and Glinda to enter it.

For a tick tock I wondered if Elphaba was going to defy her, but Glinda clearly had the same thought pass through her head for she took Elphaba's arm firmly, and after a quick pinch, was able to tug her behind her into the office.

Madame Morrible turned her eyes to me and I looked down at the ground just before her feet. I hated it when I knew I'd done something wrong.

I knew that it was inappropriate to be in Glinda and Elphaba's dormitory with the door closed, even more so without proper supervision. Not that any one of us knew where Nanny was- much less wanted to go get her and risk exposing Shanny.

Nevertheless, despite the fact it was more of a guideline than a practiced rule, I did feel a little guilty. She cleared her throat and I looked up,

"Master Fiyero, I'm sure you are aware that you have broken a school rule, am I correct?"

I nodded, "Yes Madame."

She studied me for a moment and I lowered my eyes once again, not wanting to bring about a conflict. That was more Elphaba's specialty than mine and I wanted it to remain like that.

"Master Fiyero, I must deal with Miss Elphaba and Miss Glinda right now, but after I'm finished with them we'll deal with your… injudiciousness. Please remain seated here," she said, pointing to one of the chairs across from the secretary's desk.

Not liking the tone she used to speak about Elphaba and Glinda but being powerless to do anything, I followed her finger and sat down quietly.

"Grommetik, I want you to say here and make sure this boy doesn't move, understood?"

The tin man made some sort of whirling noise and Morrible left without a second glance.

I stared at the machine and it stared back at me.

Hopefully Elphaba and Glinda wouldn't take too long.

--

"Miss Elphaba, Miss Glinda," Morrible greeted, sweeping into the room and taking her place behind the large desk.

"Madame Morrible," I returned curtly, remembering the last time I'd been here, before my trip to the Emerald City with Glinda. Glinda kicked me under the desk and I held my tongue- a feeling of contempt came over me from the muddled memory of being used.

"I heard the both of you had an interesting encounter with the Wonderful Wizard…" she trialed off, giving us an opening to inject comments- perhaps an explanation as to what we'd hoped to accomplish.

I offered nothing but hoped Fiyero was getting comfortable outside of the office- he'd probably be there for a long time.

--

The door slammed open suddenly, closing as quickly as it had opened. I jumped up from my seat, Grommetik backpedaling with a whirl, turning its… head, to the cloaked figure currently holding the vibrating door shut.

For a tick tock I thought it was Elphaba, I recognized the cloak as hers, thinking that she'd somehow gotten out of Morrible's office without me noticing- and was now trying to get back inside. Then I realized that it was impossible for her to jump out the window, get to the front doors and come all the way back here in such a short amount of time. Not to mention a waste of time.

And what would Elphaba be doing outside the office anyways?

Morrible would've probably said something about it too… And this person was a lot shorter than Elphaba was.

"In the name of Your Majestic Ozness, open this door!" someone bellowed through and the cloaked figure vigorously shook its head,

"Go screw yourself _and_ your Royal Highness!"

Ah. I recognized that voice. But I decided to proceed on the side of caution- after all, the scene in front of me didn't project a very good image, "Shanny? Is that you?"

"Yes!" the figure yelled, and she turned around so her back was against the door, her blue hand gripping the hand of the door so it couldn't be turned.

"Open the door!" another voice commanded as I asked,

"What are you doing?"

The cloak fell off her face a little, exposing her pained facial expression, "I was wandering around the first floor trying to find you guys when these jerks," she tilted her head backwards, indicating whoever was behind the door, "Started chasing me. I think they think I'm Elphaba for some reason. We need to get out of here!"

"You _are_ wearing her cloak, Shanny," I pointed out as she sounded like this turn of events was extremely incomprehensible. After all, I almost mistook her for Elphaba when she first entered.

"Hey Fiyero?" she said, loosing grip on the handle and the door opened a little before she managed to slam it back shut with a grunt.

"Yes?"

"Now that the pleasantries have been exchanged- mind helping me?"

How she was managing to keep what sounded like at least four angry men on the other side of the door _on_ the other side of the door for that long was surprising to say the least. I immediately began to move, taking hold of the desk.

Grommetik, who had been standing like a statue, instantly whirled to life, propelling himself towards me. "Oh, shut up," I muttered, kicking him away and dragging the desk to the door. He clanked and went silent.

I didn't really care; right now we needed the desk more than Morrible would ever.

Shanny slowly moved aside while I replaced her with the desk. It was quite heavy and it seemed to work good enough.

"So, why are there angry people chasing you?" I asked, following her as she set out across the room. She saw the window and abruptly changed directions towards it. "And were did you get those clothes?" I added.

"They're Elphie's," she said as I reached the same conclusion in my head.

Opening the window she looked down and smiled, "Perfect," she whispered, taking two bags off her shoulders and tossing them out the window.

"What are you doing?" I asked, a little confused.

She ignored me, "Are Elphaba and Glinda in there?" she asked, pointing to the only other door in the small room. I nodded and she headed towards it putting up the hood to hide her face.

Her intention hit me when she opened the door to it and by that time it was too late to stop her. I heard Morrible say, "What is the meaning of this-" stopping short as she undoubtedly saw Shandra.

"I'm sorry Madame Horrible, or whatever it is-" I winced at the disrespect in her inflection and words, "But I need to borrow these two for an indefinite amount of time. Come on," she said, backing out of the room.

"What happened?"

It was Elphaba's question and she was first out the room striding with a purpose, followed by Morrible and then Glinda, who both looked a little more than confused.

The small army outside choose this moment to shout- "If you do not open this door right now, the Gale force will be forced to use force!"

I saw both Elphaba and Shandra stare at the door with distain before Glinda 'ahem'ed'. Shandra turned to them, "There's like, five of them out there and by the way they were chasing me down the halls, I'm pretty sure they want to kill you Elphaba. Or something like that. We've got to leave- now."

Elphaba nodded and Shandra headed to me, stopping directly in front of me. She looked at me expectantly for a moment and I stared at her. "What?"

"Fiyero, move!" she said exasperated and I realized I was blocking the window. Opps.

"Where do you think you're going?" Madame Morrible demanded, "Who do you think you are?"

Shandra ignored her but Elphaba just couldn't resist.

"Madame Morrible," she said, facing our Head Mistress with her chin raised, "You can tell the Wizard that Glinda and I refuse his offer and would no longer appreciate his attempts to manipulate us. We will not be pawns and stand by idly as-"

"Elphie, as self-righteous and noble the things your about to say are, I really need you to shut-up and jump," Shandra said crudely, taking my hand and leading me to the window. Realizing that I didn't really have any idea of what was going on I willingly swung my leg over, ducking my head so I was straddling the window sill, half in, half out of the school.

The ground wasn't too far below me and I could see Glinda had already at some point, somehow, managed to make it down. I briefly wondered how her dress even fit through the window in the first place.

"Come on Fiyero," she encouraged. Like I, she grasped the urgency of the situation but didn't quite understand its importance.

"Let US IN!" This was the Gale Force. The desk was finally scrapped along the stone as they managed to open the door.

Madame Morrible said, "What in Oz do you believe you're doing?" as I was shoved through the window by a now cloaked figure.

I was doing a somersault through the air sideways and I saw Glinda extend her hands to catch me during one of the rotations. Luckily for the both of us she'd misjudged the distance and my body grazed her fingertips as I landed hard on the ground on my back. At least I didn't land on my head.

"Oh!" Glinda gasped, "Fiyeroareyoualright?!"

I groaned, not really understanding what she was trying to say. I looked from where I'd fallen and saw Shandra already halfway out the window and looking like it wouldn't take her very long to complete same the feat. If she jumped now she would land roughly in the same area I was currently occupying. Crawling on my stomach I jabbed my elbows into the dirt, getting out of the way as fast as I could.

Glinda gave a small scream as Shandra almost landed on my heels. I turned around just in time to see that Elphaba had followed Shandra out the window and had in fact, landed on her.

"OhmygoshareyoualrightShanny?!" Glinda screeched and no one paid her any heed- it wasn't like we could understand her anyways. She rushed forward to help Elphaba to her feet but Shandra had already rather brusquely shoved her aside.

"Damnit Elphaba, what the hell!" she demanded standing up and Elphaba stood up as well. They were almost nose to nose, both glaring at each other with the same temporary loathing I'd come to associate with their little spats. I had a feeling this one wasn't because of their rough landing.

"I would greatly appreciate it if for only once in your lifetime you cou-"

What Shanny could or couldn't do was cut off by the realization that there were a bunch of angry people a couple feet above us, just itching to hurt us for unknown reasons. This was brought about by Glinda, who stepped between the two and pointed up,

"Can we go?" she asked and after another look at each other Shanny nodded,

"Let's get out of here," she muttered, picking up one of the bags. Seeing the other bag she'd thrown out the window earlier I hurried over to pick it up. She mumbled her thanks. It was probably the only useful thing I could do.

I heard a noise from above and saw smoke coming out of the window.

Well, that probably wasn't good.

"Come on," Shanny said, grabbing Glinda's hand and breaking into a run. Elphaba started after them and doubled back for me when she realized I wasn't following.

"Do you want to get caught?" she snapped, taking my hand and tugging me until I was forced to step forward or risk falling… again.

I really needed to speak to Shandra about the little push she'd given me.

**A/N: This is for **JadeTakashi. **Thanks for the wonderful review, it means a lot to me. Shandra's coloring will be explained... perhaps not as quickly as you'd like? It'll take them a while to figure it out- I mean, she's blue! That's just not normal! Thanks again. :)**


	25. Walking and Bubbles and Oz, oh my

_2.5 Walking and Bubbles and Oz, oh my!_

"Do you even know where you're going?" Glinda complained, huffing hugely. She had her shoes in her hands because her feet had gotten sore from them. She was wearing my shoes- Elphaba's were much too big and Fiyero's were apparently too male. I, on the other hand, wasn't wearing any. Not that I minded, I realized, taking Fiyero's bag from Elphaba and slinging it over my shoulder- the cool grass felt nice against the soles of my feet.

We'd been trading the bag off periodically, Fiyero carrying the much heavier food-filled one. It didn't take long for the thin strap to start cutting into my shoulder and I gauged we'd been walking for an hour at least, our progress slowed by the need to stay out of view and ergo, in the forest.

"Explain to me again what happened inside Shiz?" Fiyero asked for the third time and I sighed heavily,

"I was wandering around the first floor trying to find Horrible's office- thanks for that by the way," I smiled at Elphaba and she nodded, "And then those… people with spears came storming around the corner, yelling at me to stop, so I ran. I went into the first door that was open and that's where I met up with you guys,"

"Okay…" Fiyero nodded his head. He'd heard all this before, I knew he had. So the point of this all had to be…? "So what happened after you pushed me out of the window?" he asked,

"I said I was sorry!" I protested, hoping he was just teasing me about it and not actually that mad. "Elphaba started having an argument with one of the stupidest beings on Earth-"

"Oz," Elphaba interrupted,

"What?"

"Oz," Glinda repeated, nodding her support of Elphaba's correction, "We're in Oz, not Earth."

"Right…" I wasn't used to being ganged up on, and I wasn't even sure if that was what was happening. "One of the stupidest beings on Oz," I stressed and it seemed to appease them, "So I yelled at her and jumped through the window, after which she quickly proceeded to landing on me. We started running, and here we are,"

"Walking," Glinda completed my sentence in such a dejected, hopeless and thoroughly miserable voice that I couldn't resist smiling. I was certainly not looking forward spending time with Glinda 'roughing it'.

Fiyero was looking at me oddly but didn't return to the story even though he'd sensed that I hadn't given him all the facts. Elphaba wasn't offering anything up, and those were her details to share, not mine.

"So…" I said, dragging the syllable out to seven times its length. I attracted Glinda's attention and Elphaba was annoyed at the moment of childishness. Fiyero was looking very intently at something at the bases of the trees and probably didn't register I'd said anything.

"Yes?" Glinda prompted curiously.

"How in Oz do you guys get around in this place? How do you get from point A to point B?" I asked, wondering if they had cars.

"Horseback or carriage is the best. Trains occasionally." Elphaba answered, "Fortunately we don't have those metallic death contraptions in Oz," she narrowed her eyes and I didn't dwell on the dig,

"So you can't conjure us, like, a bubble to travel around in?"

"No," Elphaba said, not catching my teasing tone, "We can't come and go by bubble… And what provoked you to come up with such an absurd idea?" she asked a little incredulously.

Glinda was all for the idea however, and I found myself laughing at her enthusiasm and the look it brought to Elphaba's face, "Oh can't we Elphie? It sounds like so much fun! AND you can make it pink! Oh Elphie, please?!"

"I said no," Elphaba repeated sternly. Glinda pouted slightly and I patted her on the arm sympathetically,

"We'll get you that bubble someday Glin," I whispered into her ear and she brightened, grinning. Elphaba looked over at us annoyed with our hush-hush,

"While we're on the subject-"

"Of bubbles?" I interrupted and she smiled not kindly,

"No, Earth and all its innovative wonders,"

I interrupted again, "You realize that cars are just like individual, personalized steam engine trains?"

"As I was saying," she said, point blank ignoring me, "I think it'll be best if we keep your pedigree hidden to everyone but us four; I have a feeling that it if the information was publicized it would attract unwanted attention-"

"Don't we already have a substantial amount of unwanted attention?" I asked snidely, "What with all the random guards chasing us and wanting to- Ow Fiyero! Ow!"

He'd stopped suddenly and I'd run abruptly into his back, almost getting knocked over. He held his hands out, and Glinda ran into Elphaba, whom he had caught in the stomach with his outstretched arm,

"What is it?" Elphaba asked, suddenly on alert. Glinda and I exchanged worried glances.

Fiyero shook his head, cocking it this way and that, swiveling and peering into the thinning forest right and then left- "Something's not right," he muttered and I felt myself drifting closer to the other three. Their behavior was really starting to freak me out,

"What's-"

"Shh!" Elphaba ordered, focused just as intently as Fiyero on our surroundings. After a second I heard why- although the trees on either side of us weren't spaced out enough yet to notice movement, the faint rustling of leaves and branches could be heard.

I didn't feel any wind on my face.

"They're surrounding us," I whispered but was ignored. Then I figured they'd probably already come to that conclusion.

"Shanny, come with me," Elphaba ordered almost mutely, "Glinda, stay here with Fiyero."

Glinda nodded fearfully and moved closer to Fiyero, taking his hand in hers and holding it tightly. As Elphaba began to move away from him he stopped her with his free hand and held on to her for a moment,

"Be careful," he said and Elphaba shook her hand free,

"Don't be worried about us," she said with a slight smile before taking my hand and leading me away.

I allowed myself to be pulled along silently like a rag doll until we had effectively disappeared from our friends' sightlines. Good riddance, because I couldn't stand it for much longer. "What are we doing?" I asked Elphaba and she looked to me hesitantly. She released my hand but didn't stop her pace,

"Getting captured," she said, turning to see my reaction and somehow dodging a low hanging tree branch at the same time.

I thought about it for a moment before shrugging, "Better us than them, right?" I rationalized and Elphaba nodded, probably pleased that I saw it her way. Although Fiyero was a man and bigger, I was sure Elphaba could give him a run for his money when she was riled up.

Only, things didn't quite happen according to plan.

We heard a high-pitched scream behind us and turned to look at each other; "Glinda," we said in unison, turning around and running back to where we had left them. Elphaba pulled me down to the ground as we neared the location, causing us both to slide forward on the grass in head-first dives.

From our vantage point we could see that there were two guards holding Glinda by the arms, three holding Fiyero on his knees and another one standing around looking stupid. "Obesity and skinny blonde!" I whisper-exclaimed, pointing them out to Elphaba. Obesity was as per usual the one looking stupid, his nose slightly disfigured and lightly bruised. Skinny blonde had a conspicuous pattern of bruises across his face.

I was glad I didn't have to explain my nicknames to her.

One of the started pawing at the hem of Glinda's dress, which was resting just below her knees and she shrieked as Fiyero started firing off threats and swear words. I pulled Elphaba back down to the ground as the guard tormenting her stopped, laughing at Fiyero's reaction.

"They're not going to do anything," I reassured her, although I couldn't be certain. If worse came to worse we could always intervene, but it would be safer and smarter to keep to ourselves until it would be easier to get them away unnoticed.

Elphaba wasn't paying much attention, "We shouldn't have left them," she muttered angrily and I put a hand on her shoulder blade so she wouldn't jump up,

"Elphie, who would be left to do the saving if we hadn't left them, our intentions were good- isn't it better that they only have two of us instead of all four of us?"

"Yes," she agreed, "But why does it have to be them?"

I turned my head so that I could look at her and she noticed the movement, doing the same. "Would you really want Glinda to be the one rescuing us?" I asked dubiously, indicating the guards.

Despite herself Elphaba let the shadow of a smile show on her face, "All right. I see your point. But the moment it gets too risky we're going to go in there and get them out, agreed?"

"Agreed," I said, taking her hand and shaking it. She gave me an odd look before resting her chin on her folded arms.

"And now we wait," she said and I nodded my agreement,

"We wait while exercising the virtues of patience and restraint."


	26. Red Rover, Send The Morons Over

_2.6 Red Rover, Send the Morons Over_

It would seem that Elphaba either didn't know of the virtues of patience and restraint, or simply didn't have the capacity or capability or something to apply them.

Before long she was fidgeting again and I took her hand, "Stop it," I muttered and she looked over at me sharply,

"Look at them," she nodded over to where Fiyero and Glinda were sitting, "How do you except me to remain still when my friends are in danger like that?"

"Because they're my friends too and I'm doing just fine," I whispered back, "They aren't in danger yet. That's why we're watching them- so if they are in danger we can do something. Just take a chill pill already."

Elphaba glared at me, "And what does a chill pill exactly do?"

I moaned softly into my hands, "It's a figure of speech. Chill out- calm down, they're practically interchangeable," I muttered without lifting my head. Elphaba didn't reply to me. That was odd.

"Shandra, they're doing something," Elphaba said after her jackrabbit pause and I looked up alarmed,

"What are they doing?"

"I don't know yet," Elphaba answered frustrated, "They just started doing it!"

I frowned at her answer but turned my attention to the guards, two of which had by now piled themselves on top of Fiyero, keeping him firmly down despite his struggling. Three were off to the side, determinedly having no part in what was about to transpire, and a fourth was approaching Glinda.

This was so not good.

"Elphie, I think…"

She was already gone, tearing through the trees and bushes that separated us like a menace. Screaming like a banshee, "Don't you dare touch her!"

"Elphaba!" I cursed her with a few choice words a couple times before lunching myself to my feet and following her as best I could. She'd by now caught the attention of absolutely everyone within a five mile radius, but what was important was that the goons were no longer leering at Glinda.

They were just staring open mouthed at Elphaba.

Luckily for me, I was a little faster and a lot more agile than Elphaba. I caught up to her easily, jumping off a fallen log while she awkwardly changed her pace to skip it,

"Now what's your plan of action?" I asked her, slowing down a bit so I wasn't the first one there.

The three that had turned a blind eye were now hustling to their weapons. I noticed that it was obese who was picking on Glinda, skinny blonde helping hold Fiyero down. Skinny blonde let go of Fiyero – he probably wasn't doing much anyways- and went for his bag.

"Plan? Elphie?" I asked, slightly panicking as we quickly got closer.

"Kick their ass," I heard Elphaba mutter and I grimaced, wondering if we'd get out of this alive.

I didn't have much time to think about it, because the three guards had set up some kind of wall to block our straight trajectory.

"RED ROVER RED ROVER, SEND THE MORON'S OVER!" I screamed at them and they looked slightly alarmed. I didn't know if it was because of my war cry or the fact neither me nor Elphaba were slowing down.

It was probably a little bit of both.

I was heading right for one of their spears but at the last second I twisted away, smashing my back into one guys chest and my legs into another guys stomach. The three of us fell in a tangled mess and I immediately started to thrash about.

We were sooo outnumbered.

Their hands clamped around my arms but it didn't stop me from kicking out for all I was worth. I was pulled to my feet, and as I withered around I tried to figure out where everyone else was.

"I've got her," one of them said and I turned around to see gross obesity clutching Elphaba tightly, his arms wrapped around her stomach and effectively pinning her arms to her side.

I watched Elphaba fight against him, tossing this way and that; suddenly I feared for her safety. My heart stopped. I remembered hearing him whisper threatening words to her when we had been back on Earth;

"_When we get back to Oz I'm going to make it my personal duty to make sure that you suffer in every way possible."_

"Fiyero!" I shouted, knowing that he was our best chance at getting Elphaba away from the sick bastard, "Elphie!"

Fiyero turned his head and upon seeing Elphaba's bone crushing position, started fighting like a mad man. Glinda was already subdued and I felt one of the guards on me depart to help get Fiyero under control. I realized that as I was watching Elphaba I stopped fighting.

Taking another second to give them a false sense of security, I loosened the clasp that held Elphaba's cloak in place. It was, after all, how the man was holding onto me. When I slipped it off, the man's hand went along with it.

"Wha-" I didn't give him time to ask his question before clocking him as hard as I could, landing the punch on the ear accidentally. He crumpled to the ground and I jumped up and down, howling from the pain in my hand. I cupped it gingerly, getting myself under control. There were still others, I reminded myself.

"Get Glinda!" Fiyero said as he blew past me and I did a double-take to make sure it was actually him. I picked up the spear that the guard had dropped, running with it at the guard who was clamped onto Glinda's neck.

"ARGH!!" I yelled as I tackled the both of them, knowing that if it turned into a real fight I'd be screwed.

Thankfully Glinda managed to somehow step aside, tumbling not between the two of us but beside us. I jumped to my feet while the guard was still wondering exactly what was going on, hitting him with the butt of the spear on the top of his head.

"Shanny…" Glinda breathed, surprised at the violent action,

I took her hand and dragged her up, "Forget about him," I ordered, tugging her behind me when she looked back, "We've got bigger fish to fry."

Whether or not she got it I didn't know, but I did remember that last time me and Elphaba had escaped the two men, my knife had been left embedded in obsesses left shoulder. "His left shoulder Fiyero!" I yelled,

"Shanny!"

I turned around at Glinda's voice and we both screamed as the skinny blonde I'd already met ran straight into the spear in my hands with an 'omffh'. I dropped it from my shaking hands, unable to not look at him as he fell to his knees, holding his stomach, the spear poking through his arms where it had entered into his stomach. He coughed once- twice, falling to his side, wheezing for breath.

Time seemed to freeze as this evil man died in front of us.

"Don't TOUCH her!" Fiyero bellowed and I was snapped from my trance; I took Glinda's hand hurriedly, seeing that Fiyero had somehow managed to knock all but one man into unconscious; they littered the ground between the two men.

I was impressed with his efficiency and his ability to subdue them without killing. Glinda was still shaking beside me and I realized that it was the first time I'd ever killed something, much less a human being. Even as a kid I was always careful to step around the ants on the ground, not on them.

Slinking away from Glinda, I moved discreetly to the trees, watching as Fiyero tired to barter with Elphaba's captor, who now had his hands around her throat, the sharp point of a spear against her cheek.

"Please, just release her," he pleaded and the man shook his head,

"You think I'm going to do that, just like that, after what this green lizard here did to me?"

Fiyero was taking small steps forwards, tentatively, so not to provoke the man into doing something rash. "Just put down the spear, please. We've already taken down the other five men, let her go and we'll let you go," he bargained and I corrected his 'we' with an 'I' silently.

"You don't have to do anything for me, boy," the man spat and I saw Fiyero register me behind him. I saw him slightly shake his head and took the opportunity to look around for a big stick.

There was nothing like a big stick to make someone feel safe.

"Isn't there any way that we can have a civil discussion without harming anyone?" Fiyero asked and the big oaf grunted,

"There is no such thing."

Fiyero caught my eye and nodded once, discreetly. I came up behind the man and said, "Yes there is," before giving him the meanest swing I could.


	27. Guess Things Happen That Way

_2.7 Guess Things Happen That Way_

Fiyero caught my eye and nodded once, discreetly. I came up behind the man and said, "Yes there is," before giving him the meanest swing I could.

The log hit his head soundly, and he instantly crumpled, "It's called democracy," I finished regretting he hadn't heard that part. I pulled him off of Elphaba and prayed that she wasn't harmed.

Her eyes were closed and my heart skipped a beat before she opened them to ask, "Democracy?"

I sighed in relief, falling on top of her and hugging her tightly while I nodded, "Only, it doesn't really work sometimes,"

"Why not?" she asked and I got off her, helping her up. I brushed her off, wincing when I saw that she had cut herself a couple centimeters above the temple. Hoping I wasn't the cause for the injury, I answered,

"Because of voter apathy. When you're just one voice in a million, why bother speaking out at all?"

She thought for a moment and Fiyero came up… what had taken him so long anyways? I saw Glinda curled up into a crouched ball and sniffling to herself and answered my own silent question.

"You're bleeding," Fiyero said softly in a deep voice I'd never heard from him before. His hand went up to Elphaba's cut before pulling away and gently taking a handkerchief from his pocket. There was a tenderness in his eyes that Elphaba seemed to warm to, making me very uncomfortable. I could recognize an intimate moment when I saw one and I walked away from them without saying anything.

They wouldn't miss me anyways.

The blonde on the other hand…

"Glinda," I said softly, crouching by her and putting a hand on her shoulder. To my surprise she threw her arms around my neck, latching on to me and pulling me down to me knees so I was awkwardly hugging her,

"Oh, Shanny, did you really kill that horrible man?" she sobbed into my shoulder.

I felt like I probably wasn't feeling as bad as I ought to have; it was kind of hard not to think that way with Glinda soaking the strap of Elphaba's frock. "I didn't mean to do it Glin, it just happened that way," I tried to explain, desperately not wanting her to think less of me. I couldn't help but think back to the woods; I couldn't help imagining the sorts of terrors he'd inflicted throughout his lifetime.

But I knew that there were reasons that made him into who he was; events in his life that directed his actions- for all I knew he was working for the Wizard because the evil prat was holding his entire family hostage. Maybe the only reason he acted the way he did was because that was who he needed to be perceived by in order to get through the day. He was, after all, a child once. He'd had a home and a family- maybe he'd even been best friends with the kindest person in his school or village. Maybe he had been the kindest person.

And yet for some reason I couldn't bring myself to feel horrible.

Wrapping my arms around Glinda I held her and let her cry for the both of us.

**A/N: Short. Kinda weak. It just felt better as a loner chapter, so I put it here. Anyways, **JadeTakashi, **they're just getting started, lol. ;) I've got a lot more planned for the little band of misfits. **


	28. Education of Oz Commence

_2.8 Education of Oz Commence_

Elphaba and Fiyero had been walking in front of me and Glinda for the past three hours, their hands swaying side by side delicately, knuckles gently grazing against the other every couple of minutes.

It was driving me bonkers.

Why couldn't they just hold hands already? Obviously they wanted to. Whether or not either of them admitted it didn't irk me as much as how incredibly frustrating it was to watch them not but want to. All I wanted to do was run up to them, hit their heads together, and _make_ them see what they were doing to each other.

That or accidentally bump into them, so that they'd be forced into contact.

However, Elphaba would probably have no grievances to due me harm after that. She was just a little bit scary when she was angry.

The sun was started to set on the horizon, and I found even the sun set here was uncomfortably different than back home. Realizing I was well on the path to dwelling on things that would best be left un-thought-out, I grabbed Glinda's hand and held her back so that we could get more distant between us and the couple in front.

"Is that annoying you too?" I whispered to her, in the hushed tones that Fiyero and Elphaba had been using. Elphaba looked back to see what had happened to us, and I smiled at her. She looked suspicious but went back to- for lack of a better word- swooning over Fiyero.

"What? Them?" Glinda asked.

I was happy that I wasn't the only one finding their behavior slightly exasperating, "What's the story behind Elphie and Fiyero?" I asked, wondering if they had previously been an 'item'.

"Well, Fiyero's a Vinkus prince, and Elphaba's…"

"Emerald?" I provided and she shook her head,

"She's going to be the Eminent Thropp once her Great-Grandfather dies."

"Which means what, exactly?" I asked. It was probably a good thing that Glinda assumed I knew all these things and didn't see me as a naïve clueless wonder. Unless she'd just forgotten and I was did come off as a naïve clueless wonder.

"Elphie'll rule Munchkinland."

I was pretty sure that wasn't the most politically correct way to put it, but I did sort of needed to have this type of information spoon-fed to me. "So that means…"

"Well, they'll have a lot to juggle if they ever get married," Glinda explained. Her capability to see into the future was amazing. "With Fiyero's obligations in the west and Elphie's in the east, I wonder how they'd be able to pull it off…"

We walked in comfortable silence for a few more minutes, catching up to Elphaba and Fiyero.

It didn't take long for me to trip over a protruding tree root (accidentally) and coincidentally fall straight into Elphaba, shoving her into Fiyero (not so accidentally).

Fiyero caught her before she could get hurt, holding her hand and wrapping his arm around her waist, "Whoa there," he smiled, trying to contain a grin.

Elphaba glared at me, but I noticed with satisfaction that Fiyero didn't release his grip.

"My bad," I smiled innocently. Sighing dramatically I looked over to Glinda, "I'm just sooo tired of walking."

She stifled a giggle and I grinned. Elphaba narrowed her eyes suspiciously. It was like she knew what I'd been trying to do. Oh well, Fiyero was still holding on to her and she didn't seem to mind the contact.

"Can we not walk anymore?" Glinda asked as I was plotting how to reenact my move.

Elphaba removed herself from Fiyero and came up to me. I didn't back down, expecting some sort of confrontation. Instead she turned to Glinda and smiled, "Shandra and I were just about to find some horses Glin."

An hour and a half later, Elphaba and I came back with four strong looking horses and sealed lips as to how we'd acquired them. Surprisingly she hadn't taken my head off. It made me incredibly confused.

Elphaba helped me get onto my horse and I swung one leg over the saddle, the dress stretching uncomfortably across my thighs. She looked at me oddly, "Lady's usually ride sidesaddle," she explained, nodding towards Glinda, who Fiyero had helped up.

I shook my head, "If I attempt to do that, I'll be dead within the hour."

Elphaba smiled and mounted her own horse the same way that I had. I glared at her but soon was distracted as my horse started moving on its own accord. I panicked for a second before realizing that it was just following Fiyero and Elphaba's, falling into step with Glinda's.

"Why on Oz are you riding like a man?" Glinda demanded instantly and I smiled at her,

"Because, Glin, I felt like experiencing something new."

And this was completely new to me. I was uncomfortably high from the ground and the rhythm of the horses trot seemed really unnatural. We rode for what seemed like ever, Fiyero and Elphaba deep in conversation about something that looked like it was incredibly vital to our future survival.

"Glinda," I said sometime during the ride, looking up at the sky through the branches of the trees,

"Yeah Shanny?" she asked and I sighed,

"I don't know. I'm bored. This is boring. Where are we going?"

Glinda shrugged, "I'm just following them," she gestured to the two in front of us.

"Don't you get sore like that?" I asked after a moment as she shifted on the saddle.

"A proper lady never shows her discomfort," she recited with an air of respectability.

I scoffed, wiggling the visible toes on my foot, "Says the girl who complained enough to make me go barefooted through the woods,"

"Well if Elphie let us conjure up a bubble, like I wanted to, then that wouldn't have happened!"

"I'm not Elphie," I immediately protested, "And that was my idea!"

"Well, where did you get these horses from then?" she demanded and I looked away quickly,

"No where," I mumbled and she continued to stare at me. "So Glin, what's your home like?" I asked, trying to get off the topic of the means taken to obtain the horses. It was suffice to say that we wouldn't be welcome back in the Shiz Stables any time soon.

"Why?" Glinda asked, seeming a little bemused,

"Because I figure if I'm, you know, supposed to be from here, I might as well get to know as much as I can about it, right?"

Glinda nodded, "That's smart. Well, I think that right now, we're somewhere in the Great Gillikin Forest, which is just… uh, north of Shiz. So we're heading north. I think…" she trailed off, looking at her surroundings, angling her head thoughtfully, "I'm not quite sure where we're headed, truthfully…"

Which was how my education of Oz began.


	29. A Different Way

_2.9 A Different Way_

"I'm tired," Glinda whined and for once, I didn't berate her about it. It was starting to get really, really dark and I was using muscles that hadn't been used in a long time. Or rather- not using them; my legs had long since passed into some distant stage of numbness.

Elphaba acknowledged the repeated comment for the first time, "We're just looking for a nice place to stop, Glinda."

Ten minutes later we were all gathered around a pile of rocks and sticks.

"Elphie, make a fire," Glinda ordered bluntly in an oddly authoritative voice.

Elphaba stared at her skeptically, "How?"

"You're a witch, aren't you?" I pointed out and Elphaba narrowed her eyes at me,

"I would appreciate it if you wouldn't call me that,"

"Oh, why not? It'd be so easy for you," Glinda pouted, coming to my rescue.

"Please Elphie?" I added,

"Please?" Glinda echoed.

Elphaba stared between the both of us looking ready to kill and I saw Fiyero quickly hide a smile, "It couldn't hurt, right Fae?" he said. I quickly retrieved the book from my bag, opening it and flipping through the pages,

"Why can't we just make a fire like normal people?' she demanded.

"Well, A, we're far from normal," I derided,

"And it'd take longer,"

"And I'm too cold!" Glinda added after Fiyero's comment.

"Here, use this one," I said, handing the book over to her, pointing out a spell with a word in the title that I roughly recognized as "Fire". She glared at the three of us, closing the book insolently,

"I am not going to make a fire, so you might as well warm to the fact that you'll all freeze to death tonight."

"Elphie!" Glinda whined and I sighed,

"Don't you at least want to know if you can really do magic?"

"Not in the least," she said stubbornly standing up and walking away.

"Fine!" I snapped at her retreating back, knowing the more we pushed her, the more resolved she'd be on the issue.

20 minutes later and about a dozen failed attempts on Glinda's and mine's behalf, Elphaba grudgingly took the book and cast the spell. I was surprised that she didn't 'accidentally' magic the three of us in the process. I, for one, was truly ignorant to the methods of building and starting a fire, but apparently Fiyero was quite apt at it, one of the reasons that Elphaba was so aggravated.

"What do you have to prove by doing that?"

Fiyero raised his eyebrow, "Nothing?" he asked.

She took a step closer to him, "Don't think I don't know that you're perfectly capable of creating a fire, Fiyero. What incentive short of enjoying Glinda and Shandra injure themselves would you have?"

"There was no incentive," he stuttered. It was clear to everyone that Elphaba had cornered him.

"Really?

"I don't think I've pushed you into anything," Fiyero smartly answered. Elphaba glared at him, but I interrupted before things could escalate,

"I'm going to go down to the creek," I said quickly. If things were going to escalate, I sure as hell wasn't sticking around to be a witness. Glinda looked helplessly at me but I figured if she really wanted to she'd make her own invitation.

I tripped over a tree root when I was almost there. It hurt like a mother and I jumped up and down for a little while, hugging it close and cursing my luck.

Why was I always so clumsy? I heard someone snickering behind me and I turned to find Elphaba a couple meters back, "I'm glad someone's amused," I commented, rubbing my foot,

"You constantly amaze me with your ability to injure yourself, with no third party assistance."

"Whatever," I muttered, finally able to stand on it without wincing. I tested it out and was happy to find the stinging was already abiding.

"So are you and Fiyero…" I trailed off, suddenly feeling awkwardly aware of my body and my movements,

Elphaba turned sharply to me, "Fiyero and I what?" she demanded with so much venom that I abandoned ship right then and there, shrugging and raising my hands in surrender while backing away,

"I don't know. Whatever. Don't mind me," I urged, walking away from her and sitting by the edge of the lake.

I turned to see what was taking Elphaba so long, as obviously she'd come to talk to me for a reason. She eyed the water with trepidation before finally coming to me.

"Did you really kill that man?" she asked and I bowed my head into my knees,

"I didn't mean to do it," I whispered, guilt washing over me, "He… it doesn't matter," I muttered miserably. I didn't matter how or under what circumstances- I'd still killed someone. I wasn't sure I liked how it reflected on my character. I hadn't meant to do it.

"I know," Elphaba said softly and her words made me feel a great deal better. It was probably because I was the most worried about what Elphaba would think about it. The fact that she wasn't disappointed in me or happy made the facts much easier to bear.

I felt tears beginning to prickle my eyes and I hid my head in my crossed arms, "What are we doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"What are we doing? Running away? Where are we running to? Why are we running? What have we done wrong to deserve this?" I demanded. I was, admittedly, coming a little unraveled at the edges. I couldn't help it- it'd been a very long day.

"Fiyero and I were thinking of heading to the Resistance, as it seems to be the only viable option now," she said a little stiffly. I knew she knew that I had started to cry and I was glad she wasn't bringing attention to it, "After that, who knows. It's the only safe place we have left to turn- we both agreed that the violence the Gale Force has shown towards us so far proves that whatever the Wizard wants he wants badly."

I looked up at her. I could feel the tear tracks fresh down my cheek but I didn't know if they were visible. At least I had stopped. Elphaba said nothing about them,

"For some reason we're in danger."

"Do you think that it's because of you?" I asked, feeling like a very young child. Elphaba had confidence and mine was shattered at the moment. As long as I had someone to lean on right now, I knew I'd be fine. And Elphaba was doing it the best way. By pretending like she wasn't.

"It might be because of my… magical abilities. But I'm not sure what the Wizard would want with them. I'm not even sure what extent he'll go to in order to get whatever it is he wants."

"Do you think he wants the book?"

Elphaba nodded, "He wants the book- that we're sure of. His attempted theft of it shows us that. We're just not sure why. I'm a little worried that it might have something to do with the Animals of Oz. Everything he's done lately seems to affect them most of all."

"Why not just hide then?" I asked. Normally I probably wouldn't have asked a question like that, but I was in a delicate place right now, and Elphie, thankfully, understood.

"Because there's still a chance we'll make a difference. If we allow him to have his way, what is that proving to anyone, other than the Wizard really is as powerful as they say he is. We need to speak out about this… injustice. People will hear us; they'll hear our voice as long as we provide them with an opportunity to do so.

"That's why you speak out and resist- if you're smart enough with your arguments, if you're passionate enough about your cause it doesn't matter if you're perceived to be right or wrong. As long as you're speaking out people will know that not everyone is happy. They'll know that there's unrest. They might allow you to, if you're lucky enough, change the way that they think.

"We can't hide, because if everyone were to hide, there'd be no one left to fight the oppressor. There are already too many people hiding, Shandra. We can't join those ranks- not when we know what we know and we have the capacity to think. That's why you bother speaking out when you're one in a hundred, or even one in a thousand. That's how you bring about a change."

"Oh," was all I said. Elphaba's fiery passion about it had burned away some of my guilt.

People die, I decided, because that is what must happen. They die because they needed to die in order for the cause to continue. It was regrettable and I never wanted for it to happen again, but I realized I couldn't change the past. What was going to happen would happen and there was nothing I could do about it.

There was still grief there for the dead man, but Elphaba had comforted my conscious and my chest didn't ache as hard as it had before.

I leaned back, with my arms behind my head, looking up at the stars. It took me a second, but I found that they were almost exactly the same as back home, except more vivid. "Wow," I whispered, a little awed, "Look at that Elphie," I nodded to the sky and she looked up.

"They're stars," she informed rather bluntly and I took hold of her dress, hulling her down to lie beside me,

"No, really look," I ordered, making myself comfortable.

She glared at me for a moment before turning her gaze skywards. "They're stars," she repeated monotonously, probably a little aggravated that I'd pulled her down to the grass for stars. "Why do you find them so spectacular?"

I sighed, resenting the harshness in her tone, "Never mind."

"No, I want to know," Elphaba determined, propping herself up on her bony elbows, turning to face me, "Why do you find the stars so intriguing?"

"Because they're shiny," I snapped and she huffed. After a while I shrugged, figuring Elphaba was as good a person as any to speak to. I knew she would listen to me. Even if she was opinionated, at least she would keep it to herself until after I was done. "It's- they're the only thing that doesn't seem different from my home. Everything else here is so radically… that…"

Elphaba stared at me, the settled back down, "They are beautiful," she commented. Apparently she'd finished her questioning, but I didn't want to stop,

"Right now? At this moment? They're pretty much the only thing convincing me that this isn't a dream. That Glinda, Fiyero and you are real. I mean," I started laughing, observing my hand in the moonlight, "I'm blue! How the hell can this not be a dream? Maybe I'll write a book about it when I wake up…"

"I'm green Shandra," Elphaba said softly and I sobered immediately,

"I know. And these stupid stars are the only thing convincing me that I won't wake up to the sound of my alarm any minute. They're just so goddamn familiar…"

"I'm real," Elphaba said after a minute, so softly I almost didn't hear. I turned to my side but she wasn't looking at me, she was looking at the stars, "I'm real. I may be green, but I am real."

"You may be green," I repeated, turning back to try and find what she was looking at, "But you are real."

"I'm not beautiful," she admitted and this time I didn't bother turning to her. The conversation had long transcended looks and eye contact. "I'll never be beautiful. Not like Glinda."

"Glinda is beautiful," I agreed readily, "But so are you."

She scoffed, "I'm green. How can I be beautiful? Not that I care," she added hastily and I knew that she hadn't received many compliments in her life. Maybe that was why she flushed when Glinda had said that my new color was beautiful like Elphaba's. "It's just not meant for me."

"The stars are beautiful,"

"They are," Elphaba murmured her agreement.

"But you know what's even more beautiful up there?" I asked and I felt her shrug,

"The clouds?"

"There aren't any clouds," I pointed out. "What do you see up there?" I asked and she took a second to answer,

"A broom."

"Show me?"

She pointed it out. It looked like the Big Dipper.

"Guess what I see?"

"I despise guessing games," she muttered,

"Then look at your broom,"

"Alright,"

"And now look at the spaces between the stars that connect your broom. What do you see?"

"What?" she sounded a little confused.

"Don't look at the stars- look at the black spaces between the stars. What picture do they form?"

For a long time she didn't respond. I wondered whether or not to give her a couple of pointers- I wasn't too good at it yet, but I knew a couple of stuff. Like how you usually needed to let your eyes go out of focus to see something. And how it wasn't really a single, set image you were trying to see like you did with stars. There were no solid lines or standard formations. You had to relax and let the pictures come and go, like when you did when you stared at your ceiling. That was the real beauty of it.

Finally Elphaba answered, "It's like a metamorphosing picture. It's as if the sky itself is unsure of what it wants me to see."

"Maybe you're unsure of what you want to see," I suggested softly and I felt her contemplate my words, "It's beautiful though, right?"

"Yes… I suppose in a sense that it is."

"So I guess that sometimes beauty can be masked- hidden away in the dark spaces of the universe. But it doesn't mean that it's not there." I brought it back to what provoked me to start on the subject; "Just because not everyone can see your beauty, doesn't mean that it isn't there Elphie."

"But-"

"It's just… looking at things a different way. Like we did with the stars."

"How… deeply profound."

"Fiyero pointed it out to me; he was talking about you. I don't think he realized the philosophical level he was talking on though. Or that I would apply it to the stars."

I felt her turn towards me and so I shifted to face her,

"I'll get you home Shanny," she whispered, her eyes a little watery. It may have been from our conversation, but it may have not been. The strength and determination in her eyes convinced me that she would be true to her word, "I promise."

I nodded, "I know you will Elphie," I whispered back, "I know I'm not dreaming. I know you're real. I'm real too." We stared at each other for a couple more minutes, some inexplicable connection holding fast. Her earthy eyes were dull in the moonlight, her sharp features casting an equally sharp silhouette on the grass between us.

I wondered how my silhouette looked, if it was as defined as hers. Probably not- we didn't look anything alike. I put my hand on hers, feeling the soft skin beneath my fingers, wondering how it was that I could place so much trust in one person. In two people or in three.

How did I know that this wasn't a dream? When was I going to wake up? I couldn't seriously believe that all of this was happening- and yet, through everything, I just knew.

I knew this couldn't be a dream, I knew these people couldn't be fabrications of my imagination, figments of my day that had manifested themselves into a semi-reality. They were far too real for that.

They meant too much to me for that. And even though I'd only known them for less than a week, I knew that this was the place where I was supposed to be. This felt like where I belonged. Earth would always be my home, but this- this was where I would find my purpose in life.

"Where did Fiyero go?" Elphaba asked softly.

The question brought the exploration of our relationship to an end. I shrugged, "He told me back… home. When you were getting all worked up over that apple."

She sat up and I followed suit,

"We'd better get back," she said a little reluctantly.

I nodded, wondering if she'd ever shared anything like that with anyone. The one person I could think of was Glinda, but I didn't want to ask. It wasn't my place. This conversation I would keep to myself.

**A/N: If you're ever going to review a chapter, I'd like it to be this one. Just tell me what you think of the discussion, if it makes sense and if it provides enough reason for Shandra to just go along with the ride. Thanks. **


	30. Hellness

_2.10 Hell-ness_

"Here," I said, handing her the small cup. She looked up at me,

"Fiyero," she said suspiciously, "Did you place something in my drink when you thought I wasn't looking?"

I shook my head; even though I knew that I'd done nothing wrong, I still felt guilty, "No. Why would I do that Fae?"

Elphaba just glared at me, sniffing her drink before taking a sip. Deeming that it wasn't noticeably tampered with she proceeded to down it quickly.

"Anyone want anything else?" I offered but Shanny wasn't paying attention, smoothing out the wrinkles in the mat and Glinda was a little ways off, delicately removing her cumbersome dress.

"Fiyero!" she shrieked when she realized I'd been looking and it occurred to me that I was watching her undress. Shandra looked up and I felt myself flush,

"Sorry!" I said hastily, putting the glass down and turning away from her. I slipped under the blanket, feeling Elphaba's body stiffen at our close quarters.

"I'm not going to bite you," I whispered to her jokingly, lying as still as I could on my back.

She relaxed in the slightest, "I know," she sighed, "It's just… I've never…"

I nodded, finishing her incomplete sentence in my head, "I can sleep on the ground," I offered, turning onto my side, breaking what little contact we had. I saw her face fall in the slightest, and she shook her head,

"That's alright, Fiyero. It's just…"

I let her finish on her own and I could hear Glinda and Shanny scuffling about their own bedding, wondering if they'd planned for me and Elphaba to share the same bed. I wouldn't put it past them, the way they'd been acting lately.

"It's just," she turned around to face me and I resisted the urge to brush the strands of hair that fell into her eye away, "I need to get used to it, is all," she finished sheepishly.

I touched her hand softly with my own, rubbing my thumb over it. Her eyes widened in surprise and her hand jerked, but remained where it was. I wondered how much effort that had taken on her behalf to keep it there.

I'd held her hand before, but this was the first time I noticed how extraordinarily soft it was. It wasn't delicate and small, like Glinda's, but the green skin was surprisingly silk-like. I wasn't expecting it from someone who otherwise seemed to be so rough around the edges. "We can go slow," I reassured and we looked into each others eyes for a second before Glinda broke the silence with a yowl.

Elphaba withdrew her hand instantly, the moment gone. She was practically growling, "I swear-" she cut herself off, sitting up, "What's wrong?" she asked jadedly.

I sighed, feeling a little disappointed and irritated for some reason.

--

"Move over Glinda," I muttered, sliding under the blanket and nudging the girl over with my body. I pinched her skin accidentally and she howled in pain, "Owwwie!"

I quickly moved away from her and Elphaba asked, "What's wrong?" In the firelight I could see she was sitting up, Fiyero leaning on his elbow beside her and looking out behind her back.

"We're fine," I said hastily, waving at them and electing an odd look from Elphaba before she shook her head and settled down once again with her back to us.

For a second Glinda and I lay beside each other on our backs, silent and still. Then I felt the blanket being tugged away from me gently. "Give it back!" I hissed, pulling it towards me as the edge hitched up on my hip, granting the cool night air entrance to what had been my warm cocoon.

"Stop it," Glinda muttered pulling back and a short tug-of-war ensuing as we both fought to gain possession of the blanket. For the most part we didn't make much noise, but when Glinda released the blanket suddenly I was caught off guard; the blanket corner fell into the fire and I swore loudly, causing Fiyero to groan incoherently and Elphaba to sit up again,

"Must I come over there and separate you?" she demanded and I apologized guilty after stamping out the lightly smoking edge of the blanket. She huffed and huddled up next to Fiyero once again.

I went back to our mat and Glinda was shivering, "I'm cold," she complained as I put the blanket over us, settling down beside her,

"There, now we both have half."

Our shoulders touched gently and I stared at the stars as Glinda's shivering ceased for a full minute before starting up again.

"I'm still cold," she whispered, surprisingly conscious of Elphaba and Fiyero. She snuggled up closer to me and I shifted away,

"What?" I demanded a little irritated.

"I'm cold," she insisted and I rolled my eyes,

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" There was no way she was getting the blanket- it wasn't freezing, but it wasn't that warm. And it wasn't my fault she wanted to sleep in her slip.

Glinda didn't answer and I had the strangest feeling that I was supposed to know. I turned my back to her and she promptly cuddled up into it, ducking underneath the blanket cooing happily as she nuzzled her head into the middle of my back.

"You hurt like hell," I commented quietly as she repeatedly prodded me with her fingers or nose or something. I felt Glinda sniff,

"_You_ are as uncomfortable as hell," she retorted, her voice muffled somewhat and I was surprised at the comeback. It wasn't very Glinda-esque.

But I couldn't resist the temptation for banter, "You dress like hell,"

She gasped indignantly, her head surfacing; "Well your mannerisms are like hell!"

"You breathe like hell,"

"You conduct yourself in the likeness of hell,"

I turned around to face her, "You look like hell,"

"Well you make me feel like hell," she huffed, turning around and forced to wiggle into me because of the short width of the blanket,

"Is this okay?" I asked cautiously, putting an arm on her waist because there was no where else less awkward to put it. We were basically spooning and I didn't want her to get any wrong ideas about me. She murmured her consent.

"This is actually kind of comfortable," I whispered suddenly overcome with exhaustion, finding our previous conversation highly ironic,

"Mhmm," Glinda nodded and I heard Elphaba turn,

"Have you two quite finished yet?" she demanded and I shushed her,

"Elphie, some of us are trying to sleep," I scolded and I could imagine the death glare she was sending my way even though I couldn't really see it.

I cuddled into Glinda; I was a cuddler- there was no question about that. And it was by far the warmest position available. I wondered if Fiyero and Elphaba had adopted the same position, or would by morning, hoping they would for different reasons then us. They were really cute together.

"G'night Shanny," I heard Glinda mumble and I reciprocated, feeling her drift slowly to sleep.

I closed my eyes, quickly following suit.


	31. Unexpected Visitor

_2.11 Unexpected Visitor _

"Elphaba… Elphie! Nimrod! Goddamn it, you verdant tombstone, wake the hell up!" I shook her shoulders but quickly stopped when I heard something crack. Whoops, my bad.

I wanted her to wake up, not put her into a permanent coma.

"Fiyero," I demanded in a hiss, sensing in my gut for some reason that whoever was getting closer, "What the hell did you put in her drink last night?"

"I didn't put anything into her drink," he whispered back, but it was more of a stage-whisper than anything, "I just made her think I did!"

I looked down at Elphaba's emotionless face, wondering if breathing was something that happened to the people in Oz once they passed on. My stomach started to tingle and I had the weirdest feeling that who ever Fiyero had spied on his breakfast shag was coming nearer. Deciding I couldn't spend more time trying to wake the dead, and realizing how absurd my first hypothesis was, I left Elphie and went to help Fiyero hide the horses.

"We'll be right back Glin," I promised her and she nodded, sitting down on a rock. She watched Elphaba wearily, for some reason not as worried as I was.

--

I woke up suddenly.

It was morning, but it wasn't the sun that had woken me. I lay still for a second trying to determine what it had been. The space next to me was empty, but it was also cold- it surprised me that I out-slept Fiyero, but he'd been gone too long to be what caused me to wake.

The only sound I heard was Glinda breathing from somewhere in front of me and I pushed myself upright.

Glinda was in fact in front of me, sitting on one of the rocks looking somewhat scared. There was a knife at her throat and her hands were tied with rope.

And there was a person behind her, holding the knife calmly and watching me with soft green eyes.

I threw off the covers with the intent of kicking some ass but her voice stopped me before my legs were off the blanket,

"Stay where you are or I'll kill her," she warned and my hesitance was validation enough for her to know the threat was effective. "Who are you?" she asked, half-shaking her head to get her long brown hair out of her eyes. She looked older and stronger then Glinda, and I found myself wondering if I would be able to take her in a fair fight. I looked around the cave quickly, noticing that Shandra and Glinda's sleeping mat was gone, as were our horses. Curiously, there was nothing that suggested company other then Glinda and I had been here.

It made me wonder where exactly Fiyero and Shandra had gone to.

"Glinda, are you okay?" I asked nervously. She seemed a little out of it.

She nodded, letting out a small gasp as the girl behind her tightened her grip on her shoulder, forcing her head back with the knife, "Your name," she growled.

Cursing myself for oversleeping I answered, "My name's Elphaba the Thropp, Third Descending from Nest Harding. Will you release my friend?" I asked hoping that my willingness to divulge information would be beneficial. I bit my lip, realizing my mistake too late.

"What are you doing here?" she asked and one glance at the fear in Glinda's eyes was all it took to persuade me to talk,

"There are people pursuing us and we're trying to put as much distance between us and them as possible."

The girl looked at me suspiciously for a second before asking, "Then why do you have a Gale Force spear?"

"It's the Gale Force who are after us. We were caught by them three days ago but we managed to escape, which is why we have one of their spears. Now please, release her. You're hurting her," I said concerned about my friend. Glinda did in fact look like she was in a lot of discomfort and was having difficulties breathing; she looked almost ready to cry.

The girl looked down and realizing I was telling the truth about Glinda loosened her grip. I relaxed a little. "Do you expect me to believe that the two of you got away from the Gale Force?" she asked skeptically and I nodded. It occurred to me that she must have been thinking we were part of the Gale Force.

"You can't possibly think that we're from the Gale Force?" I asked, unable to keep the roughness from my voice. We were both girls- not to mention the concern I was showing for Glinda. Gale Forcers weren't capable of such concern unless it affected their social status.

She shook her head, "I know you're not Gale Forcers. They're too stupid to send in female spies."

For a second there was silence. The woman observed me like she was trying to figure out who I was.

"Why are you green?" she asked. It didn't carry the usual ridicule or mockery that went along with the question; she seemed to genuinely want to know.

Still, I didn't like the way she kept the knife at Glinda's throat, "I was born this way. Are we done here?" I asked callously wanted sorely to find my other friends and get going.

"No," she said, shaking her head. She forced Glinda to stand up, and I was suddenly uneasy. Where in Kumbricia's name were Shandra and Fiyero?

"What are you doing?" I asked as she walked Glinda across the small clearing. I saw a horse tethered to a tree. It only added to my neurosis.

I saw her say something to Glinda as they neared the horse and I got up from my blanket. I didn't quite understand what was happening. I wondered what was in those pills that Fiyero must have crushed into my drink to make me so sluggish and inattentive. And I'd been so certain that he hadn't actually done anything…

"Please come over here, Miss Elphaba!" the girl called from where her horse was, helping Glinda sit upon the saddle. I walked toward them cautiously, wondering what she was possibly hoping to accomplish by kidnapping Glinda.

The horse turned its head to the girl and she smiled kindly at it. She stroked its head gently touching its nose with her forehead. With a flat palm resting on the horses' cheek I heard her ask, "You can take the both of us, right?"

For a minute I thought it was actually a Horse, but the mare simply snorted, moving her head in a loose nod and shaking out her mane. It was clear that she understood and consented. The girl placed a foot in the stirrup, sliding easily into place behind Glinda who looked uncomfortable with her legs spread around the animal's body.

Knowing Glinda I doubted she'd ever ridden a horse like that before, as riding sideways was the proper, 'lady way to ride… I wondered if she'd ever ridden a horse before this period of her life.

The girl reached her arms around my friend, picking up the reins and steering the horse towards me. The knife was still prominently clutched in her hand. I stopped walking and she circled me once before stopping in front of me.

"I'm sorry," she said, releasing the reins and picking up a rope that was already knotted to the saddle, "I only have one horse, and I have a feeling that you'd be easier to deal with at the end of the day if you were tired."

For a moment I just looked up at her, unable to comprehend what she wanted from me.

"Who are you?" I asked and she smiled in good humor as her horse turned sharply to me. "What?" I asked it and it snorted, shaking its head in an almost human gesture.

"Lift up your hands," she requested and I remained as I was. She moved her other hand and I registered the knife in it,

"We both know your not going to put your friend in jeopardy so please do as I say. My name is Lady Isobel and you're nearing Resistance territory."


	32. Inability to Make Plans

_2.12 Inability to Make Plans_

"Why does this always happen to us?" I asked Fiyero after the trio had trotted well past us. I noticed that the lady was trotting her horse, not running it. I had a feeling it had something to do with Elphaba being tied to the back of it.

Fiyero stood up, brushing himself off and offering me a hand up, "Why does what always happen?"

I sighed, "The people who want to get caught never end up getting caught- it's always the people who are supposed to do the rescuing that get snuffed."

"Snuffed?"

"Caught."

"Oh. I don't know."

"We really need to get better at making plans, I'm sick of someone always being caught. It's ridiculous- complete B.S., and I'm getting sick of it! Why the hell are we so pathetic Fiyero? Why?! Do we have some kind of stamps on our foreheads that ask for us to get into these messes? Do we have some kind of radar that's pointing all these assholes in our direction? Is someone trying to tell us to just give up and not bother trying to stay safe or together anymore? Should we just go give ourselves up for the sake of my sanity?"

Fiyero chose to ignore my lack of sanity and my questions. It didn't bother me- they were rhetorical anyways; "It does seem to happen an awful lot to us, doesn't it?"

"I wish there was like, some sort of course that we could take, that would teach us how to stay out of sight…"

"I can teach you a couple things, if you'd like," Fiyero ventured and I turned to him,

"What do you mean?"

"I grew up in the Vinkus," he said, as if that would explain everything. I stared at him for a while and, realizing I wouldn't be getting a reply back any time soon, said,

"Fiyero, I'm not from here. That means absolutely nothing to me."

I loved the look on Fiyero's face when he grasped that this was true, "Oh. I'm going to have to teach you about Oz, aren't I?" he said a little dismally.

"Why? Is that a bad thing?" I asked. "Glinda's already started somewhat…" I was a pretty quick learner, and never truly minded memorizing anything. Especially if it was this important.

Fiyero shrugged, "It's just, Fae would be better at this kind of thing then I would. Or… I don't know. She would at least probably know where to start,"

"Start at the beginning, then. Start with yourself."

"Okay… So I'm from the Vinkus. I guess you could say that we're a lot less technologically and traditionally advanced then the rest of Oz. There are three primary tribes in the Vinkus and I'm the Prince of the Arjiki one-"

"So you are a Prince!" I didn't really trust Glinda not to glamourfiy the truth- well, until right about now, that is.

"Yes," he obviously didn't want to dwell on the fact, "In the Vinkus, we hunt and trade for our food. I know a couple hunting techniques, and tracking methods. If I taught you, do you think you'd be able to apply them to… not getting snuffed? As you put it?"

"Teach away, Master Fiyero," I grinned and he helped me up onto my horse.

Okay, the first thing I needed to learn was how to do that myself. It neighed as I settled down into the seat and I clutched the reins tightly, still not overtly comfortable with the humongous animal. "Please don't hurt me," I whispered to it as Fiyero was busy gathering the other horses.

"Are you alright up there Shanny?" he asked and I gave him a false smile,

"Just peachy!" my voice was strained and he could definitely tell. He gave me an odd look before hoisting himself onto his own horse,

"Are you ready to start?" he asked, and I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. He nudged his horse forwards and

"So we're just going to be following them then?"

Fiyero nodded, "Unless-" he hesitated, "You don't think we should go after them, do you?"

"No," I shook my head and the horse caught up with Fiyero's, falling into pace with it, "If that woman was going to harm Elphie or Glinda she would have done so already."

"Are you sure?" he asked and I turned to him,

"I have a feeling that she's not our biggest concern. And she might just be our ticket to safety."

I felt the tingle in my gut again, and it rose up to my stomach before disappearing abruptly.

Odd.


	33. Trust

_2.13 Trust_

It wasn't too horrible.

She'd tied my hands at the wrists as she was right and I wasn't about to toy with Glinda's safety. Isobel trotted the short distance to our makeshift camp and the rope uncoiled until it taunted and pulled at me. I stumbled slightly but she got off the horse and started to pack everything up neatly. There was only the bed mat and a couple blankets, which she rolled up and attached to the saddle.

The pots and pans were gone and she left the Gale Force spear where it was.

As she cleared all traces of our presence Glinda took the opportunity to address me and I was so surprised she could speak I didn't answer her at first.

"Elphie," she asked, whispering so we wouldn't be over heard. I walked up so that I was beside her and the horse eyed me. I was certain that it was suspicious.

I rolled my eyes at it, "I'm not going to do anything," I muttered and Glinda nudged me with her foot. "What?" I hissed and she looked a little offended,

"You don't have to be rude," she sniffed and I sighed, grudgingly apologizing,

"Sorry." I realized the way I said this was also rude so I gave up trying to be polite and asked instead, "Are you all right?"

She nodded, biting her lip guiltily, "I'm so sorry, Elphie. She just came at me with the knife I didn't know what to do and Fi-"

The horse cocked its head to me as if to better listen in on our conversation.

"Shut-up!" I hissed again, stopping her from saying Fiyero's name. As long as Isobel didn't know about Fiyero and Shandra there was still a chance that they'd come rescue us. I hated the idea of being rescued but I couldn't do currently do anything by myself.

"Why?" Glinda asked a little taken back by my tone and then it dawned on her. "Oh! Oh, are you all right?" she asked instead and I shrugged,

"I could be better,"

"I'm sorry," Glinda said again, "It's my fault-"

"Glinda," I said firmly, "This is not your fault. You were ambushed."

"But you could have-" she started to protest and I cut her off again,

"Glinda, she's right. I would never put your well-being in jeopardy. There was never a choice, a could or couldn't."

"But-"

"I see you're finally talking," Isobel said cheerful, materializing out of no where and causing Glinda to jump. She climbed the saddle and took the reins and Glinda turned her glare at me because Isobel was no longer in her view. "Miss Elphaba, can you believe that your friend refuses to tell me her name?" she asked. It sounded almost like she was teasing Glinda. I said nothing.

"Although," Isobel continued, a little more soberly, "If your positions were reversed I'm certain she wouldn't hesitate in the least…" she trailed off and I watched her closely as she flinched. I could tell there was something to the sadness in her eyes but I didn't get a chance to inquire before she took the reins up and nudged the horse gently,

"Come on sweetheart," she encouraged, "The sooner we get started the sooner we get home and the sooner we're finish."

The horse started trotting and it took me a second to realize I was going to have to jog lightly to keep up with them. Glinda and I couldn't really talk in front of Isobel and I didn't want to waste my energy on speaking, so I made peace with the fact it was going to be a long, boring and physically exerting day.

I just hoped we got to wherever soon.

--

Even though Isobel made sure we stopped frequently to give both me and the horse a much needed break, by the time the sun was beginning to set and Isobel tethered the horse to a tree, I was spent. I didn't know how far we'd gone but I knew it was very far. I just hoped we wouldn't have to go much further. My legs were starting to feel like they were fading away from me and there was a slight nausea threatening to creep into my mouth. In short, I wasn't use to it.

I collapsed to the ground beside the horse but Isobel pulled me up, "Stretch or you'll cramp you're muscles," she explained, cutting the rope that linked me to the horse.

I studied her for a second before holding out my hands, "I'm not going to go anywhere," I said, hoping she'd cut me free. It'd be a lot easier to get Glinda and me away if my wrists weren't bound.

Isobel smiled at my attempt, "Do you really think I'm that easily manipulated?" she asked with amusement and I sighed. "Now stretch out your muscles," she ordered, helping Glinda down from the horse.

The older woman was still a mystery to me. The rope around my wrists that she refused to untie was the only thing that made me different from a traveling companion. That and my lack of a horse but she went out of her way to ensure I was as comfortable as possible.

And she was right. It was like my body realized that no more would be asked of it that day and suddenly decided to release all the exhaustion that had be building from the beginning. I was in no mood or condition to put up any sort of fight or escape. I ate the food she gave me, drank the water and then cuddled up into Glinda the best I could, falling asleep within the minute.

--

I moaned when I woke up, my body unexplainably sore. Glinda's arm hit my nose as she turned and I went to rub it, finding that my hands were tied together.

Right. That.

"Are you all right?" Isobel asked and I opened my eyes, seeing her stand over me a little concerned.

Sometime during the night she'd taken my boots off along with my stockings. My feet were wrapped in leaves, and when I moved my toes I felt some sort of pasty substance between them.

"It's to prevent blistering," Isobel offered, recognizing where my attention was drawn to. "You're doing very well though," she encouraged and I sat up, moaning as my back sent out a spasm of pain in protest.

"I assume you haven't had any previous training in long distance endurance, have you? Are you sore?" she asked and I nodded despite myself. I was still half asleep after all. "Here," she said, pushing me down and rolling onto my stomach. My hands had somehow ended up by my head and I rested my chin on them, lying on my arms. I felt Isobel's hands on my back as she straddled my hips and for the first time since I'd woken I felt a little alarmed,

"What are you doing?" I demanded and I heard her laugh softly,

"Tell me where it hurts. Here?" she asked, kneading my tender shoulder with her hands. I nodded as she worked out one of the knots in my back, relaxing instantly. Isobel wasn't very threatening on her own and it felt damn good.

I felt Glinda turn around beside me and cracked open an eye to see if she was awake. Her own solemn blue eyes greeted me but she didn't say anything. I ignored her for the time being- Isobel was an extremely talented massage giving person.

"Elphie?" Glinda said after a minute announcing her consciousness.

"Good," Isobel said and I could almost hear a smile in her voice as she stopped, "Miss Glinda, can you massage Miss Elphaba's back while I make some food? We'll leave in twenty minutes." She got off me without waiting for an answer and left my line of vision.

"Elphie, what's going on?" Glinda asked me in a small, very confused voice.

I reluctantly got up, knowing that Glinda wouldn't be giving me any massages, and not really wanting her to try. "We're leaving in twenty minutes," I said, repeating what Isobel had said. Maybe not in the nicest voice, either.

Glinda pouted, "Elphie, there's no need to be grumpy."

"I'm sorry Glinda," I sighed, already tired. I pulled off the leaves around my foot and wiped the yellowish-brown paste off my feet, "It was never my intention to be mean to you,"

"That's alright, I forgive you," Glinda grinned, bobbing slightly. "Elphie," she said seriously, lowering her voice, "Why is that woman being so nice to us?"

I looked over to where Isobel was feeding her horse, nuzzling her head into its neck. "I don't know Glinda," I answered her hesitantly. If it was all just a guise, Isobel was very good at acting. After all, she did say that she was from the Resistance, didn't she? And anyone who was against the Wizard couldn't be all that bad, right? And she was being very kind to us…

"It's making me nervous," Glinda said, and I pulled on my stockings and boots with minimal difficulty. I went to tighten them but Glinda got there first, "It's just so… odd."

"I know what you mean," I agreed,

"Mean what?" Glinda jumped, almost hitting my face with her head, as Fiyero whispered behind her.

"Dear sweet Oz, you scared me!" Glinda hissed, scolding him and I could see Fiyero grinning helplessly on his stomach,

"It's not my fault," he whispered. A branch was slowly lowering itself towards his head and he in turn moved his head downwards to get away with it.

"Glinda, turn around and keep tying my boots," I ordered softly and she did so. I didn't want to attract attention to us and the horse was staring at us curiously. I waved at it, not caring if Glinda thought I was mad- the horse knew more then a normal horse did.

"I was sent by Shandra to ask you if you want us to storm the camp and rescue you. She insisted," Fiyero explained, finally taking the branch and ripping it down. I would have laughed if I could help thinking that Shandra's thoughts were almost identical to my own. The Resistance was as good a heading as any and if they had been watching she and Fiyero'd been watching our interactions, they would have known that Isobel wasn't like others we'd been held captive by.

"Fae? I would appreciate an answer before I got caught here," Fiyero wiggled under the brush.

"Well, of course-" Glinda started but I cut her off,

"Leave us be. If we start to get in trouble, then come but otherwise I think it'd be best if we stayed how we are now,"

Glinda looked appalled, "But Elphie-"

"You're ridding the horse Glinda," I pointed out, "The decision doesn't affect you as much as it does me, so would you let me decide this time?" It still affected her and I knew that, which was why I was asking for her to agree.

She looked at me for a second, "Is this what you really want?" she asked carefully. I nodded.

"As you wish, Fae," Fiyero smiled. He gave a small wave to Glinda then turned to me, "I'll be watching you in case anything goes awry," he promised. I nodded, smiling at him slightly and we shared a small moment before Isobel called out,

"Breakfast time! Stop conspiring over there and come over here!"

It made me wonder if she knew Fiyero was present.

It wouldn't surprise me if she did. Fiyero scuttled away from us invisibly and I got up, helping Glinda to her feet, hoping my decision was the right one.


	34. Decisions and Distractions

_2.14 Decisions and Distractions_

"And?" I asked, looking up when Fiyero got back from his reconnaissance.

Fiyero sat down, taking the bread I held out for him, "You were right. They want to stay,"

I nodded; not feeling like a 'told you so' was needed. "How did they look?" I asked. I was more worried about Glinda then I was Elphaba.

"They looked good," Fiyero reassured, "Good but tired…" he was probably thinking about Elphaba. I swallowed my last piece of bread as he asked, "Do you know where she's headed?"

I looked at him for a second. "Fiyero, what color was I when you first met me?"

"Uh, white?" he answered uncomfortably, shifting on the ground.

I refused to let up. "What color am I now?"

Again he seemed very uncomfortable answering, "A shade of blue- maybe teal or something like it? Glinda would know…" he looked around as if somehow hoping the blonde girl would pop up out of no where and fly him away to Neverland,

"What makes you think I have a clearer idea of where she's going when I'm not even from around here?" I asked kindly and it was like he suddenly remembered that I'd never been to Oz before,

"Right," he mumbled, "Sorry."

I felt like a jerk for the attitude I was giving him, but I didn't know why he'd even asked the question. Other then he forgot. It happened to everyone, didn't it?

"Sorry, it's just," I said softly, gesturing with my hands around me. I was hoping to convey everything that had happened in the past week. I didn't mean to take it out on him; I was suddenly feeling bad and not wanting there to be any hard feelings between us. "Want to start packing up?"

He nodded, standing and giving me a hand, "They were going to leave in fifteen minutes," he provided and I smiled, kicking out the fire and kneeling to wrap up our mat,

"Good. That gives us a bit of time to catch up with them."

The horses seemed to be doing fine on the grass they found around the area they were tethered and that was all good and well for me. They still gave me the creeps at time, although the one I rode (I had secretly dubbed him Spirit, a guilty link to the life I'd left behind) was starting to warm up.

"Do you…" I heard Fiyero start but ignored him when he didn't continue. He never seemed to be this hesitant around me before and I wondered if it was just the absence of the other girls. Namely one.

Folding our blanket neatly I wrapped it around the mat, "Ready to go?" I asked.

"Yeah," he sighed, tying one of the horses to his saddle and the other to mine. As I tied the mat and blanket to one of the saddles, I was surprised by how quickly I got used to it all, the roughing it in the woods.

I put one of my feet in Spirit's stirrups, holding on to the knob and the end of the saddle, praying I could get up. After one attempt Fiyero came behind me,

"Need help?" he asked as he did every time I tried to mount the large horse but this time I shook my head instead of accepting,

"I'm going to do it this time," I said with determination. Fiyero nodded and backed away, giving me my space. "Com'on Spirit," I whispered and the horse turned its great big head to me. I gave it a nervous smile and crouched as much as I could, "If you can carry me, I can at least get up at you, right?"

Fiyero gave no indication of hearing and for that I was glad. I launched myself off the ground, pulling with my hands and felt myself gain leverage with my raised foot. Propelling myself up with it, I threw a leg over the saddle, almost going right over.

I whooped when I felt myself finally sitting, causing Spirit to start a little. Fiyero laughed as I attempted to get him under control, mounting his own shiny black mare with much more grace. I glared at him,

"At least I got on," I said, resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at him.

"As did I," he retaliated. He nudged his horse forward and I reluctantly did the same. We rode in silence for a little while, not bothering to check the path- we knew they'd come along this way anyway. Or, Fiyero did, I guess. I was useless at tracking.

"Do you think that they'll be all right?" Fiyero asked, a couple feet ahead of me. I almost missed the question.

I caught up to him and tried to catch the look on his face, "They'll be fine, Fiyero," I said confidently, realizing it was what he'd been struggling to say earlier. "Glinda'll be perfectly fine in that saddle and- well, you know your Elphie well enough, don't you?"

"Yeah…" he muttered, still tense despite my reassurances. I was hoping he'd relax when I'd said 'your Elphie' but it didn't seem to work. His mood was slowly beginning to depress me.

"Fiyero," I started and he looked over at me, "When did you first meet Elphie?"

He thought for a second before answering. "I'd probably seen her around Shiz before we were formally introduced by our mutual friend Crope. Although she was there when I attended my first class- I remember I was late, and I was very close to getting killed by a pair of enchanted antlers."

"Antlers?" I asked a little dubiously,

he nodded in earnest, "My entrance shifted the direction of some airborne potion or concoction causing it to enchant antlers instead of the intended target. I suppose they didn't appreciate being pulled from their slumber, or whatever it is that antlers do."

"So what happened the first time you met her?" I asked, happy that his mood seemed to be lifting. I would listen to stories of Elphaba all day if it meant not having an emo travel buddy.

"We always used to meet at this cafe…"


	35. Almost There

_2.15 Almost There_

Again, Glinda and I were left with the horse while Isobel tidied the site, making sure that all trances of our presence had been erased. I felt a little relieved knowing that Fiyero and Shandra were behind us- I was wondering if we'd actually stopped here or not.

"Miss Isobel?" I asked, taking a step forward.

"Elphie, what are you doing?" Glinda hissed. I was too far away for her to kick but it didn't mean she couldn't try. She almost fell off the horse in the process, however.

"It's actually Mrs Isobel, if you're going to resort to honoraries, or Lady Isobel if so preferred. But you had a question Miss Elphaba?" Isobel asked pleasantly, taking a leafy branch and sweeping the area,

"Why are you being so nice to us?"

"Elphie, stop it!" Glinda demanded from behind me and the horse whined. Was it just me or was the animal laughing?

Isobel stopped what she was doing for a second and looked at me, and then at Glinda who was throwing a fit on top of the saddle trying to get to me. "Your friend is going to fall," she said softly and I turned around just in time to push Glinda back into her seat, as she had been sliding out of it sideways.

I turned back and Isobel was throwing the branch away in the bushes, "Lady Isobel?"

"Miss Elphaba," she sighed and looked at me. It made me wonder just how old she was- I was about to turn twenty and she looked not too much older then me, but her eyes made her seem like she'd experienced too much to be that young.

"Just because I don't know who you are, doesn't necessarily mean that I don't believe you're good people," she explained, "But you have seen me, and there's something about the way you tell your story that doesn't feel true to me. I don't have the time right now to dwell on it, and there's too much of a risk you'll follow me if I release you now. But I don't want harm to come to you either and if you did follow me, you might just be in danger. This seems like the best way to go about things. I'm not an idiot- I pick up on a lot of things you don't realize I notice."

Now I had a really strong feeling she knew about Fiyero, "But-"

Isobel cut me off, climbing onto the saddle behind Glinda, who squirmed uncomfortably, "You should conserve your breath, Miss Elphaba. We've still got a long journey ahead of us. We should arrive at our destination either tonight or early tomorrow afternoon. Com'on sweetheart," she nudged the horse forward, picking up the reins, "We're almost there."

**A/N: Just a shortie. **


	36. Dmitrim

_2.16 Dmitrim_

"Fiyero, do you hear that?" I asked, stopping Spirit and cocking my head towards the sound. It had sounded like someone screaming and being cut off forcefully. I didn't like it. Fiyero wasn't paying me any attention, getting off his horse and studying the ground intently,

"Shanny," he said, completely ignoring my question, "I think I lost their trail."

"What?"

He looked around panicked, "I have no idea where they went. It just suddenly cuts off- it's-"

I cut him off, the distant sound of a muffled scream drawing my attention, "I heard it again!" I hissed.

"It's almost like…"

I didn't hear what it was like, nudging Spirit towards where the sound had come from, "I'll be back," I called over my shoulder. We were both preoccupied and he waved his hand at me, walking around in a growing circle, trying to pick their trail up once again.

Wondering how much longer the annoying forest would go on for, I listened closely for the sounds I'd been hearing. Adjusting the direction of Spirit every once in a while, the howls of pain were getting louder and I slide off the horse when I came to the point where I could distinguish what sounded like a man's voice. Tethering him to a tree and murmuring a soft condolence, I hunched over and tried to stay as low as possible.

My face flushed when I came to the source of the screaming, seeing a man tormenting a small animal. Actually, at first I thought it was a bird, but it looked too big to be a bird. But then again, I was in Oz, and I wasn't exactly the expert at all things Oz. Yet. Fiyero had taught me while we trailed our two captured friends, but he never said anything about gargantuan birds.

The top of its head was covered in feathers that seemed to cover its entire body. Short fur covered its face and even though it had some resemblance to a human, its nose looked more like a beak and also housed its mouth. It was wearing a shift, trousers and a pair of solid boots, but its arms were bird-like coming out of the shift, and it had what looked like three talons instead of fingers.

"Stop it!" I yelled as the guard hit the small bird-thing, jumping out of my hiding spot without thinking. The bird-thing let out a small wail of pain that I recognized and the guard turned towards me, surprised for a second. I ran forward rashly with the intent of punching him but he caught my wrist easily, grinning. As I wiggled to get away, I saw a rock about the size of an orange at my feet. Nudging it with my foot onto the heel of my other, I kicked it up like I would a soccer ball, hoping I wasn't too rusty after years of inactivity. To my complete surprise the rock soared over our heads and before the guy knew what hit him, the stone was earthbound, conking him solidly on the head.

He dropped to the ground, knocked unconscious. It took me a second to realize that my nifty soccer trick actually worked.

"Thank you, Ms," the odd bird-thing said after we stared at the lifeless body for a moment. I nodded absently and then stopped mid-nod – did the thing just speak?

"What?" I asked, taking a step back,

"I said 'thank you, Ms'," it repeated cocking its head and I was still fixated on the fact that it could talk to me,

"How- yo-you can talk?" I stuttered out, sinking to my knees just in case I passed out.

The thing grinned, "Of course I can. My name's Dmitrim."

"But you're a bird," I said faintly, unable to tear my eyes away from its hard, curved mouth- beak- whatever it was. It was a bird; a disproportioned bird that looked an awful lot like a human, but it was a _bird_!

"I'm a Bird, Ms," he enunciated, a little deflated, "Haven't you ever seen an Animal before? Why did you knocked him out?" he asked, pointing to the man who was moaning on the ground.

Registering the guy I suspended my disbelief for a second and quickly got up, "You said your name was Dmitrim, right?" I confirmed and he nodded,

"Yes Ms,"

I took his feathery hand in mine, careful to mind his… talons? "We've got to get out of here before that guy wakes up,"

"But I can't Ms," he resisted softly as I started tugging on his hand. I didn't know how young he was, but he reminded me of the twins that I baby-sat sometimes. They were six.

"Why not?" I asked exasperatedly- surely going with a stranger who had just knocked out the man who was beating him was better than waiting around for the man who beat him to wake up. Although I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case- things were going very bizarrely lately. "And don't tell me your parents told you not to talk to strangers," I forewarned.

The… boy, shook his head, "I haven't had parents for a long time. But my feet- I can't walk on them," he said as he sat down, hanging off my hand until I came back to him. I released his hand and he pulled up his pant leg, showing an odd pattern of scales instead of normal human-boy legs. The boots on his feet were locked on through the eyelets. I had a feeling that his hand-resembling feet must have been locked painfully into them.

"How do you get around then?" I asked, kneeling down beside him, saddened by the cruelty of the boots. How could he stand to stay balanced?

He looked at me a little forlorn, "I used to be able to fly, but until my flight feathers grow back in," he extended his arms- they were huge- to their fullest length, displaying the clipped feathers, "I won't be able to. And with these boots on…" he trailed off, for the first time since I met him looking thoroughly miserable.

"Was that what he was doing?" I asked and the boy looked down, nodding,

"He took me out of my cage and we were going to meet up with the rest of the guard somewhere along the road. But I think he got lost along the way, because he started leading me back to the Resistance,"

"How did you manage to get around?"

The boy looked down and I regretted asking him the question as he answered quietly, "He tied my feet together and dragged me."

The man groaned and I stared at the shoes- I wouldn't be able to get them off myself, but Fiyero would probably have some sort of clue as to where to start. "Do you mind if I carry you?" I asked and the boy looked up,

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Pick you up and put you on my back if I have to. Just until we get to my horse," I explained. If I could do it with Elphie, I sure as hell could do it with a bird-boy that probably weighed a quarter of her.

He looked frightened and I didn't really know what the big deal was, "Here," I said, deciding that if the man who had been abusing him was going to be regaining his consciousness, I'd rather he do it far away from us. I put my arms under the boy's knees and around his shoulders, lifting him up easily. He was light, probably because he had to hold himself up if he flew. Go figure such a human-looking creature could fly.

After a soft whimper he relaxed his tensed body, wincing as I adjusted my arms, "Did I hurt you?" I asked, starting to walk away from the guard.

Dmitrim dodged the question, "What's your name?" he asked instead,

"Shandra,"

"Where are you from?"

Hm. Good question.

"I grew up in the Vinkus," I decided, in part because that was the place I knew the most about. It wouldn't be a good thing if I claimed to be from the Emerald City and knew nothing about the Emerald City. And also because my blue would be less noticeable among the chocolate color of Fiyero then among the pasty white of Glinda.

"Why are you blue?" he continued his questioning and I laughed,

"Why are you giving me the third degree?"

For a second he considered what I'd said. He extended his arm- I was fascinated for a moment, watching his joints moving gracefully with each other- and placed in around my neck. I hoisted him up a little more so he'd have a better grip, "The third degree of what?" he asked, genuine confusion evident in his voice.

I smiled at him, "It's just my way of saying that you're asking a lot of questions."

"Oh." He thought for a second. "Sorry. Was that rude of me? Isobel says I'm not supposed to be rude to anyone, even if they're human…"

"I don't mind it, but someone else might," I explained, feeling very motherly as I did so. We were quickly nearing the horse and I could see its outline through the trees, "Would you mind if I rode on the horse behind you?"

"Will she mind?" Dmitrim asked, swiveling his head so he could see the horse. He smiled at it, waving. The horse neighed. I shook my head,

"I don't think she will- she's a pretty strong girl." Was Spirit even a female? I didn't know.

"Then it's alright with me," Dmitrim smiled and I stopped short of Spirit, wondering how on Oz I was going to manage getting the both of us on when I could barely do it myself.

"You go first," I said, shifting him and lifting him up to the saddle. He grabbed the saddle horn and swung a leg over, settling down onto it, "And now I attempt to," I muttered to myself, putting my foot in the stirrup and heaving.

After a couple of failed tries (much to the silent amusement of Dmitrim) I was finally on and groping for the reins.

"So you know where the Resistance camp is?" I asked as I nudged Spirit forward and he nodded,

"But I'm not supposed to tell any one."

"That's okay," I assured, not wanting to do anything to lose his trust, "Me and my friend were heading there anyways."

"You were?" he asked a little awed.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because that's where I live!"

I gave the top of his head a look, "So what do you think I was going to do with you? Not take you home?"

The boy shrugged, "I wouldn't mind being with you. You seem nice," and left it at that. I found it sad that he was so friendly with me even though he wasn't expecting to go home, and briefly wondered if my actions earlier were seen to him as a simple exchange of goods. If he viewed himself as a piece of property.

I wanted to get those stupid boots off of him all the more.

"I'm going to take you home, alright Dmitrim?"

"Mhm," he hummed absently, trying to catch the forest insects that we passed with his extended arms. The talons made it a bit difficult but it was interesting to watch.

I wrapped my arms around his small body, hugging him tightly. He didn't seem to register the gesture, or even feel it.

I wondered what kind of terrors this boy had been through to make him behave like this.


	37. Collecting Fiyero

_2.17 Collecting Fiyero_

I was resting snuggly against Glinda's body, my head lying on her shoulders and my arms wrapped around her from behind, tied together at the front. Night had fallen almost an hour ago and I wanted the horse to stop its canter so I could fall asleep properly. As it were, I drifted in and out of a dreamless state of mind, exhausted.

It was Isobel's hope that we would reach her camp by morning, and so she'd taken my place, running beside the horse, holding onto its reins as I rode on top it behind and tied to Glinda. I'd once again pointed out that I was not going anywhere and asked if she could untie me, but she refused. Not that I could really do anything in my current condition. I begun to see what she meant when she said I'd be easier to deal with if I were tired. There would have to be a very significant chance of escape to provoke me into making any attempts on it.

I simply couldn't bring myself to exert any uncalled for energy.

The horse suddenly skirted to a stop and I raised my head, slowly taking my weight off of Glinda- who sighed happily.

"Why have we turned around?" Glinda asked and Isobel shushed her, breathing deeply. She cut me away from Glinda and pulled me down off the horse, holding on to me as I got my bearings straight,

"What are we doing?" I asked once I realized that we were still in deep in the woods. She quickly retied my hands in front of me without answering, taking my arm in one hand and the reins in the other.

"Why-"

"Glinda, stay silent, please," she requested tiredly and Glinda grumbled for her perch above us, surprisingly obeying the woman. It was amusing that the woman had been trying to goad Glinda into speaking and when she finally succeeded, silenced her.

She tethered the horse to a lowered tree branch, "We'll be right back," she said, taking out a small hunting knife. I heard Glinda ask some question as Isobel pulled me along without answering, and I wasn't remotely alarmed. Through her kindness and my fatigue, Isobel had won my trust.

That is, until I saw Fiyero through the trees,

"What-" she put her hand over my mouth before I could say more and I started to squirm against her,

"Stop it. I'm not going to hurt any one of you," she promised, holding me down effortlessly. I felt what little energy I had left in my muscles drain from the weak resistance. Within seconds I had stopped and she released my mouth, "Are you quite finished?" she asked patronizingly, like I was a child.

"Please leave him alone," I pleaded and she shook her head, looking where Fiyero was studying the ground, the horses pawing idly around him,

"We're too close to camp to have him following as he is. It's safer this way," my eyes widened and she smiled kindly, "Oh Miss Elphaba, do you really believe that I wasn't aware of his presence? There was no harm in letting him follow and I promise you, I will not hurt anyone. Not unless you leave me no other choice. Now go- bring him here peacefully," she said, pushing me lightly into the light of the clearing,

"Fiyero," I said and he turned to me with wide eyes. For a second I felt elated that I'd be near him once again. I wanted to run to him and hug him, but Isobel was still patiently waiting behind me and I knew I couldn't risk putting us in danger,

"Fae-" he started, a smile lighting up his face. He noticed that I was with someone and cut himself off, running towards his horse, probably to get a weapon of sorts.

"Say something," Isobel ordered behind me, and I heard her sigh when the words wouldn't come out of my mouth. "Elphaba," she muttered a little disappointed, lifting the knife to my throat and gripping me tightly, probably so I wouldn't fall into it if I collapsed. "Master Fiyero!" she called out and Fiyero stopped mid-step when he realized my compromising position.

"Let her go!" he yelled.

"She's not going to hurt me," I reassured him in case he did something rash in a blind protective rage. He had that look in his eye. "Just come over here."

He shook his head. Three more steps and he would have been at his horse and we both knew it. From there it would only be a couple seconds before he reached us, and as tired as I was, I knew I'd be able to fend Isobel off for at least that long. He knew it too, which is why he couldn't understand my reluctance for action, "But Elphie-"

"Please?" I asked, removing myself from Isobel's grip. It wasn't that hard, as she lowered her knife the instant it looked like I might cut myself, surprisingly true to her word of not wanting to harm us. For some reason I felt that everything she'd been saying was true- that if Fiyero continued to follow us as he had or if we went along unattended, we would be in danger.

Fiyero looked helplessly between me, the horse and Isobel. "Why?" he asked, pained that he was being asked to do something he felt he had a duty to do. I realized that it was probably the only reason he expressed so much affection towards me- he felt like he was obligated to provide it. The realization of this saddened me for some inexplicable reason. Isobel answered in my stead,

"I can provide you protection, Master Fiyero. In an hour we'll be passing across the Resistance patrol boarder. If you're found there by one of our patrols with no chaperone you will more than likely be killed. I hold a position of substantial influence within the group and can ensure that you remain untouched," she explained. I could tell that Fiyero was being swayed slowly by the sincerity in her voice,

"Fae?" he asked uncertainly. He was confused and I couldn't blame him for it. He was, like I had earlier, still coming to terms that Isobel was different from most of the people we'd encountered since returning to Oz.

I knew he'd do whatever I told him to so I bit my lip, hoping I wasn't sentencing us all to death; "Do as she says, Yero."

The nickname escaped my lips before I could take it back. He held my gaze for a long moment, trying to decipher the meaning of it. I silently wished him luck because I didn't know what it, and the emotions I felt, meant myself. I wasn't sure what he ended up seeing there but he nodded once. "Alright," he said softly, relaxing his tensed body.

"I'm going to have to tie your hands," Isobel said a little reluctantly and Fiyero walked forwards slowly with his head down, resigned to his fate. I looked away as she tied his wrists together, unable to face him. It made me feel guilty that he submitted to Isobel at my request. Isobel walked away, corralling the horses leaving us to ourselves.

I was turned away from him, so it surprised me when I felt his body behind mine. Hooking his chin over my shoulder and pressing against me, his hand rested on my hip and he muttered, "I wish I could hug you properly," into my ear. I felt myself flush and I was happy it was dark.

"You're not mad at me?" I asked a little worried for the response. Glinda's disappointment in my lack of resistance was only just bearable, mostly because she still refused to speak for the most part when consciously in Isobel's presence.

Fiyero turned me around, "Why would I be mad at you Fae?" he asked, "I mean, I'm a little confused with your reasoning, but I'm happy we're all together again. I just want you to be safe," he added softly, leaning in closer to me. There was an odd intensity in his eyes that unnerved me.

"Where's Shanny?" I asked suddenly, backing away and realizing that the blue girl was glaringly absent. Fiyero looked a little disappointed but he shushed me and it occurred to me how loud I'd said it.

He shrugged, "I wasn't really paying attention," he admitted and I looked to see if Isobel had noticed the exchange, but she'd just ducked her head down, checking the buckles on the horse I'd been riding before getting caught. I couldn't tell if she overheard or not.

"There were two of you. How can you not pay attention to each other?" I demanded a little irritated to find out that we weren't all together again after all.

Fiyero shrugged again, "She ran off into the woods- what was I supposed to do? You know her," he whispered darkly.

"You two ready to leave?" Isobel asked, holding the reins of our three horses. As I nodded I felt Fiyero's hands move over mine. I looked at him questioningly but he refused to look at me. I wasn't sure why. "Master Fiyero, do you know where your traveling companion is?"

"Who?" Fiyero asked innocently, lying through his teeth, but quite well. I tired not to wince at her intuitiveness- how did she know?

Isobel sighed, "You very well know who. And I must say, Miss Elphaba, you couldn't have chosen more conspicuous traveling companions."

I wondered how much she knew about my predicament, about the reasons the Gale Force was chasing us for. They hadn't caught up to us yet, and I questioned why.

"The Gale Force won't pass the Resistance boarders," Isobel said offhand, and I had the most peculiar feeling that she'd read my mind. "They might tell the Wizard that they've searched the area, but they're much too cowardly to do it. They don't dare engage in combat where our numbers are so concentrated. That is why your friend is in danger," she insisted but Fiyero stubbornly shook his head,

"I don't know who you're talking about."

Isobel looked into the woods, then back at Fiyero with disapproval, "Let us hope, then, that she has more common sense than you. Get up on the horses, we've got to go," she requested, leading Fiyero to one of the horses and helping him climb onto it.

"Wait," Fiyero said once he was sitting high above Isobel. He gripped the knob of the saddle tightly to keep from falling, "What's your name?"

"Isobel, or Lady Isobel if you so please," she glanced at me when she said this. "My origin is of no importance, as you will soon find out. All you need to know is that I'm a prominent figure in the Resistance."

She helped me climb my own horse, and I was thankful that I was neither running nor sharing with Glinda, both of which were extremely uncomfortable.

**A/N: 'Cause the seventeen or so people reading this have already read the previous chapter, here you go. Brace yourselves- three or so more chapters and there probably won't be any more. **


	38. Carven and the Camp

_2.18 Carven and the Camp_

We'd been riding for no more than an hour when Isobel slowed our horses to a stop. I looked questioningly at her but she seemed to be focused on something else. She released the reins attached to her saddle.

"Stay here and be silent," Isobel ordered, "I'll return momentarily." She disappeared into the murky woods and Glinda's horse shifted slightly, whining, causing her to squeal.

"Glinda?!" Fiyero called, slightly worried. He couldn't see her as I could and the darkness was a casting eerie shadows every which way. After a moment I saw three men materializing from the trees, heading toward Fiyero.

One of the men knocked Fiyero off the horse, and he tumbled to the ground, landing awkwardly on his side, unable to brace himself because of his tied hands. He looked momentarily winded and didn't move as all three of them surrounded him.

"Fiyero!" I cried, my stomach flipping when they pulled him to his knees, hitting him soundly in the head with the blunt end of a rifle. Glinda screamed beside me and I yelled, "Stop it!"

"Hey, look, it's a Winkie," one of them sneered, pressing the barrel of the gun against one of the blue diamonds tattooed on Fiyero's face.

"Must be an early present from Lurline," another laughed, punching Fiyero in the stomach. He doubled over, coughing.

"How thoughtful of her," the third taunted, "She even remembered to tie him up for us!"

"Leave him alone!" I yelled having enough of their antics. I tired to slide off the horse gracefully but my elbow got caught on the stirrup on the way down and I fell to the ground off balance.

One of the men broke away and grabbed my arm and hauled me up by it, the ropes cutting into my wrists and causing me to wince. He pulled me towards them, pushing me onto the ground roughly.

"Are you… green?" he asked incredulously, using his rifle to turn my face towards him and Fiyero growled at him,

"Don't touch her!" he demanded. His voice was dangerously low, and he had that look in his eyes.

The man turned to Fiyero, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, "Or you'll do what? Don't you know where you are? This is the Resistance, friend, and here we do whatever-"

"Carven release that man at once!"

Isobel's commanding voice thundered through the small clearing, strong and angry. I was glad it wasn't us she was angry with.

The man released Fiyero instantly, backing away from him before he even finished his sentence. Isobel came into the clearing and there was rage in her eyes, "What is the meaning of this?" she demanded and the three men cowered. I was surprised with the authority that Isobel had.

"Lead Isobel- they attacked us. We were just-"

I opened my mouth in indignation, ready to tell her what had really happened but she seemed to have it under control.

"I know for a fact that you are lying to me, Carven," Isobel said coldly, reminding me of the first time I met her, holding a knife at Glinda's throat. "Liars do not sit well with me, and for that you will be punished. You may have favor with Kric, but if I ever see you touching a woman- or a man for that matter, like that again, you will be sorry. You're relieved from your duties for tonight- return to the camp and wait for me in the dinning hall." For a second they stared each other down but Carven soon relented, bowing his head and mumbling a forced and incoherent apology.

Once he had left she turned to the others, "And the two of you- you should be ashamed. You've had a hand in this and it would do you no good to deny it," they closed their mouths, "Help my friends to their feet, resume your patrol and report to your captain at the end of your shift. I'll be sure to discuss the behavior I've witnessed here with him, so ensure you tell him the truth. Anyone else found tonight is not to be touched and is to be brought to me immediately. Understood?"

The two men, who now looked like little boys, nodded. They mumbled their apologies and reluctantly helped Fiyero and I to our feet. I glared as they touched me but allowed it. Fiyero instantly came to my side the second he was on his feet, pushing himself between the smaller of the men and myself.

For a second there was silence as Isobel glared at the two offending men. I wondered why they didn't go on their way and heard Glinda squirming in her seat. The men began to shift uncomfortably but I refrained from speaking.

"You're dismissed," Isobel said finally and their bodies visibly relaxed. Seconds later they were gone.

Glinda let out a squeal as she slid sideways out of her seat but Isobel caught her before she could injure herself, "Careful, Miss Glinda," she said as she placed her down.

Glinda bit her lip, looking at Isobel and then at me. I could see she was debating something in her head and after a second she whispered in a hushed tone, "Are you alright Elphie?"

I nodded, "I'm fine Glinda. It's Fiyero who got hurt," I turned to him and he smiled weakly at me,

"Just a couple bruises," he reassured.

"Unfortunately," Isobel said darkly, gathering the horses' reins in her hands and beginning to walk, "What you've just experienced is becoming a more and more frequent occurrence outside of these camps. I don't even want to know the happenings inside the Emerald City." Once again the sad look that I'd recognized from the before dominated her expression. Then she'd been speaking about Glinda's silence, and there was an underlying tone of bitterness. It was there once again, only this time more prominent.

"Who are you?" Fiyero asked, understanding more then me and Glinda about hierarchy and order. Was it strange to him that Isobel had so much power over those men?

Isobel smiled lightly, "I'm one of the founding members of the Resistance," she revealed. I was in awe, automatically gaining more respect for her. "And although I don't have much power, I do have authority. But things have been shaky for the past few years and I don't agree with some of the methods and values that my equivalent has been trying to instill on the younger ones."

"Then what are your methods and values?" I asked before I could stop myself. She didn't look bothered by the question, and instead smiled at me warmly,

"For one, there is entirely too much killing for me. Needless killing that proves nothing. There should be more reconnaissance work and less jumping into battle blinded. We're sending children, men and woman who do not know the first thing about tactic or combat to their deaths; constantly. Regrettably, there is also corruption within our ranks- but we shouldn't be speaking of these things," she looked like she'd just realized what she was doing.

"I want to join," I blurted out suddenly. Fiyero and Glinda looked at me sharply and Isobel evaluated me with light amusement,

"I had a feeling that you might," she smiled, "Even after everything you've heard? Even after your first experience with us?"

I nodded and Fiyero whispered "Fae-", touching my elbow with his hand but I moved it away from him,

"What do I need to do?" I asked, determined,

"We'll address that when the time comes," she replied somewhat mysteriously. Before I could say anything a literal town of tents rose up before us, exciting the bland line of the horizon with the likeness of a range of mountains.

I was speechless as Isobel lead us to a tent second from the outside. When we demounted the horses she opened the flap and led us in. We could see that inside was a kind of cell, with four walls of bars and a hinged door with a lock. The tent had done well in hiding the square shape and the cell door was partially opened, starting a couple feet in from the flap.

"I'm sorry, but you'll need to be held here until morning. There are two beds," she indicated, "And make sure to call for someone if you need to relieve yourselves. You'll be safe here." She cut off our bonds and opened the door for us, "I'll have a boy bring you some food and water- Miss Elphaba, please remember to stretch out your muscles," she reminded me and I entered the cell without much encouragement.

She turned to leave uncovering glaring Glinda and glaring Fiyero. I narrowed my eyes at them, "What?"


	39. Character and Integrity

_2.19 Character and Integrity _

"Are you mad?" Fiyero demanded the instant that Isobel left the room.

I turned to him, momentarily confused. "Elphie," Glinda said worriedly, sounding like she was close to tears, "You'll get hurt."

Oh. They were talking about that.

Of course they were.

"I will not get hurt," I insisted, knowing full well that there was a very substantial possibility that I _could_ get hurt.

Fiyero shook his head, "You will, Fae, and don't try to deny it. We care about you-"

"Where's Shanny?" I asked, realizing once again that our blue friend was absent. That and I wanted to deflect the attention from my decision.

Glinda looked around for a second, "Where _is _Shanny?" she realized, "Fiyero, wasn't she with you? What did you do to her? Has she been missing this entire time?"

"She wandered off," he said, never once taking his eyes off of my face. I looked away, unable to bear his stare. Why did he care so much anyways? "Elphaba-"

"She just wandered off?" Glinda repeated, looking a little dubious, "Why would she do that?"

"I don't know Glinda, I wasn't paying attention," Fiyero snapped, launching straight back to the topic of me before she could say another word on the subject, "Fae, can you listen to me without letting what I have to say fuel your stubbornness?"

"That doesn't make sense, Fiyero."

His eyes hardened, "Yes it does. And I know you understand what I'm trying to say, even if it doesn't."

I did. "I'm not-" I hadn't even properly protested before he cut me off,

"Please?"

The look in his eyes begged me to say yes and I couldn't deny them, "Alright…" I said slowly. Even as I said it I felt the tug to do it just to prove to him that I could.

I guess that was what he meant by fueling my stubbornness.

I tired not to let myself twitch from the indignation I felt.

"Fae, you don't even know all the details,"

"What else is there to know other than they're fighting against the Wizard and his decrees? What would you have me do? Kiss them?! This isn't a rainbow Fiyero; there are two very well defined sides of this fight and these are the people who support my beliefs. I've already tired diplomacy."

Fiyero sighed, "I'm not arguing that. I'm not arguing at all. All I'm asking you to do is not throw yourself into this situation like you usually would."

"Which is how, exactly?"

"By flying off the handle," Glinda offered and I turned to her,

"What difference does it make to either of you? Other than you care for me?" I asked, closing Glinda's mouth. I turned around and growled when I was met with bars, "You can't stop me making my own decisions," I said without facing them, wishing I wasn't as confined as I was. It wasn't that small of an area, but it prevented me from getting away from them and the discussion.

"But-"

I spun around, "You two insist to focus on all the reasons why this might be a bad idea- I said might, Fiyero," I snapped, when he opened his mouth happily. "But thus far neither of you has acknowledged the good a position like this could do."

I waited a second for them to provide some but they just glared, "Fine. One, what other alternative is there? I want to help the cause, not be a burden to it."

"If Isobel forces us to stay here it's a burden they chose to carry. We can't be held responsible for it,"

"But why be a burden when you can just as easily become an asset? I can help these people, Yero, I know that I can. And they've given me a chance to do just that. And, I have no doubt that they'll teach me how to defend myself. I'll validate your argument of danger if you take into consideration that I'll be prepared for it. I doubt that they would send someone off if they didn't know what they were doing."

"You're not thinking straight," Fiyero complained, completely ignoring what he knew were compelling arguments. And even though I took offense to his words I had to admit that when I first brought it up with Isobel I hadn't been. But it was becoming a more and more appealing option by the minute,

"Don't insult me Fiyero," I snapped, quickly becoming irritated with his concern, "Of course I've thought about it. I'm not that rash,"

"You are rash though," he insisted, "This is just the sort of thing you would do without thinking. You jump to a decision without even thinking about the consequences."

"Oh, what do you know about me anyways?"

"More than you know," Fiyero growled. I was surprised by how strongly he felt about this. "It doesn't take someone who knows you really well to see that though."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

His next words were cautious and carefully delivered, "Isobel didn't give you a yes or no answer. She avoided the issue completely."

"And what is that proof of?"

"I don't want to make you feel-"

"Spit it out Fiyero. What do you imagine that meant?"

"That she hasn't known you for more than a few days and she understands that you got caught in the heat of the moment. Isobel will understand if you didn't want to follow through. You've been through a lot the past couple days and she isn't holding you to anything."

"This isn't a question about my integrity, Fiyero; it's a question of my character."

"The way I see it integrity is as large a part of character as-"

"Fine then," I huffed, frustrated that he was putting up such a solid fight. "It's a question of my moral. It's a question of what I believe to be right, and what I'm willing to stand up for. What I'm willing to fight for,"

"What are you willing to die for? What are you willing to leave behind for this cause? Are you willing to die for this, Fae?" he asked seriously and Glinda sat up straighter on the bed. I bit my lip to keep from announcing that I'd almost left Glinda behind to stay in the Emerald City for it. Fiyero caught me off guard with his question- I didn't like to think about it,

"To die?"

"Yes. Are you willing to die for a cause you don't fully understand?"

His words stung and I tried not to let it show. I understood as much as I needed to.

"Doctor Dillamond's is dead, Fiyero. He died for his cause," I said softly, "He died. I might not quite understand all the politics involved with it, but I do understand the loss of a mentor and friend. He died for his work and… and yes, I'm willing to do the same." When I finished my words were barely a whisper, but I knew they heard and they understood.

"'Scuse me, Mister and Misses," I turned around to see a small creature on the opposite sides of the cell. Although he was intruding on argument, he tore my thoughts away from the implications of what I'd just said. I was instantly drawn to him and his apparent Animal-ness,

"Hello there," I said, forgetting about the spat and Fiyero and Glinda as I came closer to the bars. I crouched so that I was level with him and he cocked his head,

"Why are you green, Miss?" he asked innocently, unfurling a tucked wing to reveal a double-jointed and heavily feathered arm.

I surprisingly wasn't bothered by the question, perhaps because of his apparent youth and the harmless why he asked it. That and I knew how I could work it to my advantage, "I was born this way. Tell me, why are you so much like a Bird, and yet you walk at talk like a human?" I knew enough about Animals to know that this wasn't all too natural.

His little shoulders shrugged, "I was born this way," he said and I couldn't help but smile at the mimicked answer. "I brought you some food and water," he indicated, pointing to the ground beside him.

"I'm hungry," Glinda said from behind me,

"How do you suppose you get that to us?" I asked, "Open the door?"

The Bird-boy shook his head, "Lady Isobel says that I'm not allowed to open the door." He picked up the tray full of food and water, taking a couple steps to his left, "There's a latch just here that opens from the outside so I can pass it through," he explained, clicking it open and sliding the tray through the opening. Fiyero took the end and I got up,

"What's your name?" I asked and he looked at me for a second,

"Why?"

"My name's Elphaba Thropp," I offered. "Now that you know mine, I should know yours, don't you think?"

He thought for a moment before nodding, "Alright. My name's Dmitrim," he clicked his beak twice happily, re-securing the latch.

"Where are you from Mister Dmitrim?" I asked and the Bird-boy shrugged,

"I don't remember Miss Elphaba. Could you be bothered to do me a favor?" he asked, fidgeting back and forth.

I felt my eyebrow rise, "What could I do from inside of here?"

"I would appreciate it greatly if you wouldn't use 'Mister'. I don't very much like it, and it makes me feel like something I'm not. Please?" he asked and I nodded,

"Of course."

"Thank you!" he clicked his beak again, hopping slightly on his feet- talons.

"Who are your parents, Dmitrim?" I asked, hoping I wasn't being too forward. Glinda cleared her throat behind me and I ignored her.

The boy stopped hopping. I wanted to know more about his origin, but judging by the look on his face, he apparently didn't know too much. "I can't remember- they both died a long time ago."

"I'm sorry," I said softly. I knew how it was to lose a parent. I knew how it was to grow up without one. He just shrugged,

"Wasn't your fault, Miss. No need to be sorry. I'm with someone good now,"

"Oh."

"She-"

"Dmitrim!" We all looked to the entrance of the tent where Isobel's head appeared not three seconds later. Seeing Dmitrim, her face broke out into an apologetic smile, "Dmitrim, stop bothering these nice folks and come along- we've got a lot to discuss."

Dmitrim pouted for a second before brightening and waving at us awkwardly, "It was nice meeting you Miss Elphaba. Will I see you again some time?"

"I'll be looking forward to it, Dmitrim," I smiled.

"I just got back," he continued as if he hadn't stopped, "So Lady Isobel wants to talk to me about-"

Isobel came up behind him and put her hands firmly on his furry shoulders, "I don't think they'd be interested with those facts, Dmitrim. Now go get a snack from the kitchens and meet me in the dining hall, alright?"

Dmitrim nodded, waving once again before disappearing through the flaps.

"I hope he wasn't bothering you," she apologized the second he was out of sight. I shook my head,

"Who were his parents?" I asked. The unanswered questions were beginning to make me itch.

Isobel shook her head sadly, "I'm afraid I know even less than him. Well," she reconsidered, "That might not be true. I do know that we found him seven years ago as an infant, still reliant on his mother's beak. What sort of creature he is isn't clear to us… but that's a story for another time." She looked like she caught herself from saying something, "You'd all best be getting some rest before tomorrow comes. I'll come collect you before breakfast; it'll be a long day," she warned.

"Thank you for the food," Glinda said as she examined the tray approvingly.

Isobel started to leave but I followed her the best that I could, stopping her short of leaving, "Lady Isobel," I said softly, trying not to draw Fiyero and Glinda's attention. Glinda was munching away happily and Fiyero eyed me before sitting down across from Glinda.

"What's the matter Miss Elphaba?" she asked, slightly concerned. Catching on to my urge to be discreet she came up closer to the bars,

"Is there any way that I could be moved for the night?" I felt bad for asking, but I really didn't want to spend the night with Fiyero and Glinda berating me.

"Why?" she asked and I didn't say anything, unwilling to share my reasons. "I'm afraid not Miss Elphaba," she shook her head, offering me at least a little sympathy, "Tomorrow morning we'll be able to see what we can do about the situation, but right now my hands are tied. I'm sorry." She sounded like she meant it.

"That's alright. Thank you."

"Good night to you all and fresh dreams," Isobel called as she left the tent. Both Fiyero and Glinda waved and I stared after her, hoping against hope that my two friends were done doubting my decision.

**A/N: Second last one. I said that I wouldn't hold chapters hostage and I'm staying true to my word- I don't have any other chapters other than this and the next one, and a fragmented outline of the end. There are two reasons I write- for myself, and for others. What I wrote for myself has been posted. I've got no inspiration or desire or such to keep going. My innate instinct to finish everything I start might kick in eventually, but for now, anything short of some good muse, well... this is almost goodbye. **


	40. Elphie Worry

_2.20 Elphie Worry_

"Elphie, the food will all be gone if you don't come over here quickly," Glinda called.

"I'm not hungry," I answered and Fiyero looked at me with disapproval,

"Elphaba, you have to eat."

"I'm not hungry," I stressed and Fiyero blatantly ignored me,

"When was the last time she ate?" he asked Glinda.

The blond thought for a moment and I crossed my arms, annoyed at being disregarded, "About an hour before you joined us,"

"So that was what, a couple hours ago?"

"At least," Glinda nodded and Fiyero stood up.

"What are you doing?" I asked suspiciously and he held up his hands,

"You have to eat something. Either Glinda and I will collectively force you to do so, or you'll do it of your own free will. But you need to eat something."

I smiled slightly at the thought of Glinda forcing me to eat, "Glinda?"

"What?" she asked,

"I'm stronger than you are," Fiyero stated. I raised my eyebrows. "I don't want to listen to your stomach making noises all night," he brushed off.

I sat down beside them begrudgingly and Fiyero joined us as I shoved a piece of apple into my mouth. "I'm only doing this to prevent you from being embarrassed," I chided.

"Elphie, don't talk with your mouth full," Glinda chastised and Fiyero laughed,

"I'm not going to argue with you Fae."

They watched me eat a couple more pieces of fruit before I got bothered by their staring, "What?"

"I told you that you were hungry," Fiyero said smugly and I threw a piece of fruit at his head. He ducked just in time and Glinda squealed,

"Watch out!"

I snorted, "Glinda, that was no where near you!"

"It's still disgusting Elphie."

I rolled my eyes but didn't say anything. It didn't take much longer before the tray was empty and Fiyero placed it by the door while Glinda jumped onto one of the beds,

"It's so nice to finally be able to sleep on something other than that hard ground." She moaned into the pillow, "This feels so heavenly!"

She hummed happily before stopping abruptly.

"What?" I asked as she lifted her head, looking around our accommodations,

"I was just wondering where Shanny really did disappear to… do you think that she's alright?" she asked a little worried.

I tried to reassure her, "Shandra's smart enough to find her way. And tomorrow we can start looking for her. But there's nothing we can do at the moment- I wouldn't let it bother your mind too much Glinda."

"But she's blue," Glinda protested and I quirked an eyebrow,

"I'm green Glinda. I manage to get by just fine."

"But… she's from… you know," she muttered. I was surprised that she remembered that we all agreed to keep Shandra's origin a secret. Fiyero answered that question before I had the chance,

"Like Fae said, she's got a good head. I taught her a couple things while we were following you and she caught on pretty quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if we woke up in the middle of the night and she was trying to break us out."

"Are you sure?"

"I think it's been established that we shouldn't be really worried," I said and Fiyero nodded. We shared a look; we were both very worried, but we couldn't really do anything in our current situation. But whereas we understood that, I was certain Glinda would be up all night fretting if she knew we shared her views.

"In that case I want this bed," Glinda claimed, hopping back on it, ready to strike down anyone who tried to take it away from her.

"So then that means you would want that bed," Fiyero confirmed, a little dejected. I tried to smile at him,

"I'm afraid Glinda will cause me a concussion if I attempt to share such a small bed with her tonight."

"Elphie! That's not true!" Glinda protested, "We shared beds much smaller than this on our way to the Emerald City!"

I nodded, "But I didn't sleep through those nights. And you were too terrified even in your sleep to move about much,"

"You were scared too!"

"I didn't say that I wasn't," I mumbled, glaring at her, "Why do you think I stayed _awake_ through those nights?"

Fiyero, who had watched the short exchange with amusement, sighed, "I'll sleep on the floor," he offered, taking a blanket from the corner and beginning to unfold it.

I watched for a total of five seconds before caving, "Why don't you sleep in the cot with me?"

"What?"

"Are you sure?" Fiyero asked cautiously after we both looked at Glinda for her completely bewildered outburst.

I nodded, "If we can share the mats, then we can share the cot. At least for the night."

--

"I heard what you were speaking to Isobel about," Fiyero said softly after the three of us had settled down. There was a sudden lump in my throat and I cleared it uncomfortably. We were facing each other and my back was against the wall- he'd insisted that he needed to take the outside. I couldn't wiggle away from him even if I wanted to and I wondered if it was premeditative. I didn't feel threatened by the restriction though… with Fiyero I just felt, safe.

"Yero I-"

He cut me off; "I'll…" he wrestled to get the word out, "Stop. But just try to keep in mind what I said. I don't want to drive you away Fae," he whispered, threading his fingers through mine and pulling my hand close to him, "I just want you to be safe. I don't think I could stand it if you got hurt."

We looked at each other and I realized that he really cared about me. For reasons I didn't quite understand, but it was there and it was unlike anything I'd ever felt from someone else before. I didn't know what to make of it. "I'll be alright, Yero," I reassured and he sighed,

"I know. I just… can't help but worry." He kissed my hand gently, opening it up and laying his cheek on top of my palm, closing his eyes.

"Worry about what?" I asked after he remained like that for a moment.

"Losing you," he muttered with his eyes still closed, so quietly that I almost didn't hear it.

My heart stopped for a second, "What?" I whispered but he didn't respond.

I envied him for being able to fall asleep so quickly, sending a glare in Glinda's general direction when I heard her soft snore. How did sleep come so easily to them?

Fatigue set in almost as soon as I'd thought it, providing the answer. We'd all been through too much for one day. I tried to remove my hand from Fiyero's grasp but his cheek fell too heavily on it and I didn't want to jostle him awake.

Instead I shifted closer to him, stopping slight of touching him. I curled up as best I could using my extending arm as a pillow. "Goodnight Yero," I whispered. I closed my eyes smiling.

The last thing I felt before falling asleep was Fiyero's arm slithering across my waist.

**A/N: So this is the last chapter I have written. To the few that surprisingly did review- I'm sorry. I really am. Maybe some day you'll open your email and a new chapter will be sitting there for you, but I don't know when that'll be.  
**

**Anyway, if you've read this far, well, how the hell would I know that? Haha.**

**Have a good summer, and it's been fun. If you like Rent, check out my new project! **


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